


The Infinite Loops: The Dark Crystal

by dragonraptyr



Category: The Dark Crystal (1982), The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance (TV)
Genre: Explosions, Gen, Hijinks & Shenanigans, Multiverse, Philosophy, The Infinite Loops, Time Loop, Time Travel, lots of crazy stuff happens, multiversal shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-08
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2020-04-12 15:56:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 49,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19135309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dragonraptyr/pseuds/dragonraptyr
Summary: Time is Looping. And all of Thra is caught in the mayhem. These are the Infinite Loops, now featuring the Dark Crystal.





	1. Chapter 1

1.0

[Dark Crystal][Adminspace]| dragonraptyr

Somewhere in the endless Branches of Yggdrasil, in an area walled off to outside Loopers, Pele was hunched over her computer screen, trying very hard not to cause another eruption today. Some intern somewhere had looked at her file, seen her listed among deities who presided over art, and seen fit convince one of the higher-ups to throw a new Loop at her. As if she didn't have enough to deal with already.

Leaning back in her chair, Pele looked over what she'd been able to recover from the Loop. For a long time, it had been a few dusty files shoved off on an obscure server. But recently, in a routine cache purge and reorganization, a great deal more of the Branch had been uncovered, showing itself to be of surprising size. Naturally, it was someone's job to oversee the thing, and that someone had to be Pele.

But looking at the world more closely had given Pele pause, and brought her close to erupting at some poor hapless intern. While it was true that she was a goddess of art, she was far from the most qualified person in her pantheon to watch over a Loop that featured music written so deeply into it, to the point that it was etched as vividly as the Middle Earth Loops, which had literally been sung into existence.

Pursing her lips for a moment, Pele brought up her email and sent a quick notice off to Lono. He was much more qualified to run Thra's Loop, having both seniority as a god, and actually having Music on his resume, instead of merely art.

Before long, Lono wandered over in person to see her.

"You said that you had a Loop that I might be interested in, Pele?"

She nodded. "Some intern, I think, sent in a list of art gods to someone. I think my name got picked because everyone knows who I am. Didn't bother to look deeper."

Lono summoned a raincloud to keep her hair from oozing onto her computer. Fresh basalt was always a pain to chip off of the keys. "I certainly wouldn't mind a change of pace. I've certainly got plenty of free time on my hands right now, even with my other work. Anything I should know ahead of time?"

Pele shrugged. "Not much. You'll need to keep any of the UrRu or Skeksis from looping - they're two halves of a whole, and a couple of them might get thrown up as candidates for Looping. UrSkeks might end up being Loop-aware. That's all I can really think of at the moment."

Lono thought it over for a moment. "I'll take the Loop, and take care of submitting the paperwork.

Pele gave a sigh of relief. "Thank you, Lono! I owe you a coffee or something."

Lono gave a wave. "Not a problem!"

Returning to his desk, Lono looked over the information, running a search on likely Anchor candidates.

Loop: Thra/Dark Crystal  
1) Jen, a Gelfling  
2) Kira, a Gelfling  
3) Aughra, Voice for Thra

Lono pursed his lips, opening further files on all three, as well as on the recently uncovered data. Looking over it, he smiled, and locked in the Anchor. It was fitting, he thought, in a way few Loops had the opportunity to be. But it fit with the melody already written, and even from here, with the loop not yet activated, a song was ringing out. Aughra would make a fine Anchor for Thra.

1.1

[Dark Crystal]| dragonraptyr

Another Loop, Another Time. In the Age of Innocence.

The clock that had swung forwards came to a halt. Frozen in time for countless trine, as somewhere distant, calamity struck and countless worlds burned. Then, suddenly, all things came undone, and the clock swung backwards. To the beginning.

Once, Thra had need of an eye to see. A voice to speak. And the great Crystal obliged. Now, trine later that had never been, Thra had need again. And Aughra was born. It was not like the first time she had been born, with the will of Thra. She had been new, then. This was a rebirth, the same that she took every nine trine. But she had two good eyes, and the suns had not yet given her a third.

"Hmmph." Aughra snorted. "At the beginning. No home, no castle. Just Aughra." The stars had called her attention before. Now, she had trine again to study them. This turning back of the clock had new merit to it, and Thra burned to understand what had befallen it. To understand what had happened. This was Aughra's task. "Lots to do" Aughra muttered. "Stars to study. Gelfling to teach. There is much that Aughra has to do." She paused for a moment, looking out across the land. "And," she added "Much Aughra has to do again. Mouthmuck."

1.2

[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr

Once again, Thra had need of an eye, of a voice. Once more, Aughra Woke. Seven times now, she had watched Thra turn again. Seven times she had watched the UrSkeks come. Seven times, she had watched them somehow find fault. Watched them fall, watched the urRu and the Skeksis born from the wound. Watched as all of Thra suffered for the wound in the world, and Aughra left with no answers as how to help. But this waking was strange to Aughra. Not born of the need of the trees and rocks this time. Now, Aughra was Gelfling, with slight form and gossamer wings, and the memories of Aughra of the Gelfling dreamfasted to her.

Aughra sat, and looked out over the world. She marked all of the ways that Gelfling saw differently from Aughra. Marked the way her thoughts flowed from one to the other, carefree in their delights. Marked the way a Gelfling nose smelled, how Gelfling hands touched. She raised her wings and let the air pour over them, marking how the breeze felt across them. Looked inwards, Aughra gave a hurph of amusement. Gelfling body, she had. But within her, her vliya was not that of a Gelfling, but that of Aughra. This, then, she would carry with her, no matter what form Thra asked her to take. There was some comfort in the thought.

For this time, Aughra would go into the world as Gelfling. Learn to see as Gelfling, that Thra might better know them. Her age-old tasks, she set aside for a time. She was Aughra, and had trine enough still to learn.

1.3

[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr

With nearly thirteen cycles completed, Aughra was beginning to understand the rhythm and the flow of time that had engulfed both her and the rest of Thra. Though she was no closer to solving the problem of the Skeksis and the urRu, people and events had begun to be fastened in her mind, players who would shape the paths of Thra. Aughra recorded these memories with great care, searching among them for answers to her questions.

She also turned her eyes back towards the heavens. The UrSkeks had taught her a great deal in those early trine of the stars, and in none of their knowledge were cycles of time recorded. But she had a duty to understand the world beyond the cycles, and she had put off this task long enough. Her eyes must return to the heavens.

It was during this time of skywatching that a stone fell to Thra from the heavens. This stone had fallen before, in every cycle, but Aughra had paid it no heed. Now a memory, long dusty and lost long ago when the Crystal cracked, was being revived.

Aughra needed to see the stone.

It did not take the Earthmother long to reach the crater, finding the stone still hot from its violent journey. Beneath the rocky crust, currents of vliya circled steadily. Laying a hand on the stone, Aughra closed her eyes, focusing on the currents.

"You. I know you. Yes." Aughra gave a great sigh. "Crystal cracked. Thra cracked. And Aughra with it. Got lost you did. And Aughra had much to think about. Dangle and Strangle, what a fool Aughra's been."

Reaching out into the stone, she pulled it again into the shape that she knew, and watched as Raunip was born again unto the world of Thra. He stood there, blinking in the light of the Brother Suns, looking onto Aughra. "Who...are you?"

Aughra took him gently by the hand. "I am Aughra." she told him gently. "I am your mother, and this is your world."

"My world." Raunip said slowly. "What do I do with it?"

"Care for it. For the things on it, and in it. Help them to grow." Aughra led Raunip back to her home, a small hut that she had made on the High Hill. It was not her Orerry, but it had been her home for so long that cycle after cycle, Orerry or no, she returned to it. It was not surprising that Raunip would not remember. Aughra alone, of all things on or in Thra, remembered. She was not the young sprout that she had been when she first formed Raunip. She had learned much care since then, and caution. She had forgotten him once, turned her eye away before. Not so now. Never again.

1.4

[Dark Crystal]| dragonraptyr

Another Loop, Another Time. In the Age of Harmony. Aughra looked down across Thra from her Orerry, watching Raunip at work. He had been acting strangely the past few cycles, his mind on something that she could not see. When she had asked him, he had told her that his visions were filled with times that had not yet been, and things that had never happened.

When she had dreamfasted with him to see what he meant, she had been shown days of cycles long passed, cycles he could not have known of, bound to the current cycle as he was, a voice for Thra's present emotions and desires.

It was a curious thing that Aughra did not have the answer to. Why would Thra change its song? Why ask Raunip to remember?

“Mother!” Raunip looked up, noting his mother's gaze upon him. “Have you seen something?”

“No.” Aughra grimaced. “Your memories. What they mean. Good for Thra? Or Bad?”

“Ah.” Raunip's brows drew together, his tail lashing. “I had thought little of them. That they were not so different from the visions that I already had. You think they are more?”

“Think?” Aughra's hairy lips pulled into a tight smile. “Aughra knows, my son. For your memories, Aughra was there. Aughra remembers. Question is, why does Raunip?”

Raunip sat down, looking pensive. “I do not know, Mother. I cannot say if this will of Thra's that I might know of the cycles that you were present for is good or bad. I cannot pretend that it has not influenced my actions, nor my opinions.”

“That's why, maybe.” Aughra took a seat beside her son. “Something wants changing, then. Aughra doesn't change things. Not Augrha's place. But Raunip...” she poked him in the chest. “Raunip is drawn to action, to what Aughra misses. We will see what unfolds of Raunip's choices, eh?”

“Yes, mother.” Raunip sighed, looking at the Orerry, tracking its movements through space. “It is nearly time for the Great Conjunction, yes? Will we leave for the Crystal, now?”

Aughra nodded, watching the motion of comets and moons. “Soon. What do your visions remember of this Conjunction?”

Raunip closed his eyes, first his small blue one, second his large golden one. “I see the UrSkeks divided, mother. I see every cycle that they divide, caught between good and evil, trapped in their natures. I see the poison their darkness pours over Thra. My life extinguished, many times.” He paused, looking at Aughra's grimace. “What comes next, mother? My visions never show me.”

“Skeksis have no patience. All that, gone to the urRu. Skeksis are cunning, devious. But when they find an idea, they act on it, never thinking of what their actions will hold. The vliya of Gelfing. A great prophecy.” Aughra gave a great and weary sigh. “Over the cycles, time and again, only two Gelfing survive to the next Great Conjunction. Dead by Skeksis hand, all others are.”

Raunip looked troubled by these words, and did not speak for a long time. At last, he stood, looking over his shoulder at Aughra. “Thank you, Mother. I believe I know what my visions have seen now.” He left for the door out to the High Hill. “I will see you at the Great Conjunction. There are those I must meet with, first.”

Aughra watched him go. “What's it mean, eh?” she asked herself. “Something new. A new ending. What's it mean, for old Aughra?”  
***  
The day of the Great Conjunction arrived, bright and clear. Around the Earthmother, all Thra held its breath, waiting to see what this Cycle would hold. Rocks ceased their rumbling. Streams fell nearly silent. And all of the plants and the animals of Thra murmured to each other.

Raunip arrived at the Crystal Castle, two Gelfling and a Podling beside him, all three looking ill at ease, aware of the strangeness of the song of Thra.

“Something's coming.” Aughra murmured to her son, watching as the representatives entered the Castle ahead of her. “Such a big commotion that Thra's making. Didn't do this before.” She looked sharply at Raunip. “What've you done, eh?”

Raunip regarded his Mother calmly. “Nothing. And I will do nothing, however much I wish to cry out. You know that I have no love for the UrSkeks. That clearly I see the darkness within them. But in my visions, I have cried out before. Intervened. And that darkness was loosed upon Thra. I will not cause that again.” He too, watched the people enter. “I would see them live in joy, mother.”

“Showed you, didn't I? Of the cycles before I remembered you, tracked out the stone from which I shaped you? UrSkeks still fell. Still split. Might happen now, as well.” Aughra laid a hand on Raunip's shoulder in comfort. “Not to blame, you are, for all the darkness that has covered Thra. Only those who make the darkness are to blame for it.”

Raunip smiled, walking through the halls of the Crystal Castle. “Thank you, mother, for your wisdom. Even so, here I am. And I will not speak, this time. I have seen the darkness inside the UrSkek. I have seen it take form, have known the shape of it now. I will always decry that darkness, but I no longer need to speak.

They came to a high balcony. Below them, on the lower one, the three representatives of Thra stood, Gyr and Kel of the Gelfling speaking softly to each other, while Kotho of the Pod looked on in contemplative silence.

As the Brother Suns drew near to their peaks and the light grew stronger, the Urskeks filed in, each holding a crystal staff. The Castle grew silent, watching what was about to occur. Would the Skeksis know their birth? The fate of Thra once more be changed?

Aughra and Raunip watched quietly as the Conjunction came to pass. Watched the UrSkeks become pure and bright, and depart Thra through the Crystal of Truth.

Raunip was silent for a moment. “They left.” He said at last. “I don't...”

Aughra raised a hand to silence him. “Not good.” She said. “Look at the Crystal!”

Raunip looked, choking back a cry of dismay. The Crystal, once bright, had been dimmed by the greed, the darkness of the UrSkeks. Aughra groaned. “Should have seen!” she moaned. “Should have expected! If inwards passes the slivered light/one world dies, another made right! Same thing! Now the Crystal is dark for a thousand trine!

Raunip looked at the Crystal “My fault, then! I should have said something! I thought that I had no need to! If I had spoken up...”

Aughra sighed. “Come on. Got to talk to those you've brought with you. No sense hiding what's happened. Caused great pain before, that.”

***  
Explaining things to the three below to a great deal of Aughra's time and energy. They had many questions about the darkening of the Crystal, and how long it would last. “Until the Conjunction comes again, probably.” Aughra said at last. “The crystal is darkened from within. That's a stain that stays, and it will take the light of the Triple Suns to burn it out again. Have to be careful, that the darkness does not cover the rest of Thra.”

“Will it?” The song-teller asked, eyes sharp. “Is all of Thra threatened by this dark light?”

“Threatened.” Aughra grew pensive with the memories of many cycles past. “This is the great Heart of Thra, Gelfling. If it sickens, Thra sickens. If it dies, Thra dies. Days of darkness lie before us. The land, its people, all will suffer in the coming days.”

“Then we will stay.” Kel said, looking at the other two. “We will watch the Crystal, and send word to all if we see threat of the darkness.”

Raunip nodded. “You will need to send word to your fellows. They will wonder at your absence.”

Kotho spoke up. “Vy skazhete yim? Vsi vony vam doviryatymut”

Aughra stamped. “You three would do well to take care. A darkened Crystal may darken the hearts of those that watch it. Trouble is coming. Listen to Aughra!”

“Yes, Earthmother. We will remember.”

“Good. Aughra pursed her lips, and then left the Castle alone. Worry laid itself in her heart. It was hard to know what the coming days held, or how it would shape Thra. But all the world around her sang a warning. And she had lived through cycles enough of Skeksis rule to listen.

***  
Several ninet passed marked as ever by the turns of Aughra's great Orerry. Slowly, darkness fell upon the land, sickening the water, the plants, and the trees. Warned by Aughra, by Raunip, and by those in the Crystal Castle, the people of Thra readied themselves for the hardships that were to come. Songtellers sang of the Crystal Darkened, and to watch for the Conjunction that would come.

Through it all, Aughra continued to worry. Thra still sang of trouble, above and beyond the Dark Crystal. This darkening should not have been different from the others. The Skeksis never were, but their darkness still touched Thra, changing its fate.

Once, this would have been the Age of Division. Now, in this cycle, Gelfling called it the Dark Age of Thra. Where once their lives had been filled with wonder, and with joy, their dreams were now darker, and their hearts were now harder.

Wherever Raunip wandered, he saw the signs of decay, and heard the songs of sorrow.

It was in a summer ninet halfway through its trine that he came to the home of some Gelfling, who had called for his aid.

“She is sick!” the eldest told Raunip. “She speaks not at all to us, and her eyes and hair have gone dull.”

Raunip looked at the Gelfling child before him, his heart feeling fear. He had seen this before, in his mother's dreamfast. “Her vliya” he said softly, running a long finger through wispy white hair, looking into milky white eyes. “But there are none who could take it!”

He looked to the Gelfling parents before him. “I ask you to journey with me to the High Hill, home to my mother. I know of her illness, but not how to mend it. My mother will have answers to these.”

***  
Aughra looked into the drained eyes of a Gelfling boy. “Gone. Like the others. Vliya taken, nothing left of the Gelfling.”

She stood, ducking out of the way of a planet. “No Skeksis to drain Gelfling. No Gelfling to know how!”

Raunip placed a blanket around the shoulders of a Podling woman. “You think it could be a Gelfling, mother? It does not seem to be their way.”

“No.” Aughra shook her head. In the space of a few trine, her home had become a hospice, caring for the dozens of peoples of Thra who had suddenly and mysteriously had their essence drained away. “Doesn't. But can't see what isn't there. No Skeksis, so must not be a Skeksis. Must be Gelfling. Or Podling. Could be both.”

“Is that what Thra's song tells you, mother? Could Gelfling or Podling been darkened? Could they have stolen the vliya from the people?” Raunip turned to leave. “I will return to the Crystal Castle, and check on its inhabitants. I will see you soon, mother.

He stepped past a Pod couple who were waiting to enter, and was gone.

Aughra watched him go, ignoring the others around her. “I pray, my son, that you go not to your doom.”  
***  
The Castle was dark as Raunip approached, with only a few lights on. The Gelfling on guard bowed low, as did the Podling beside him. “Greetings, oh Son of the Earthmother. I fear we were not prepared for your arrival.”

Raunip waved a hand. “I come suddenly. How can you prepare for this?”

The guard straightened. “I shall let the Lords and the Lady know of your arrival, Great Raunip.” He turned to his fellow. “See Great Raunip to a room, if you would.”

The podling guard nodded in response. “Syudy, budʹ laska.”

It had been many trine since Raunip had need to visit the Castle. To watch Thra for signs of the Dark had been his task, and it had taken him across Skarith and beyond. This would be the first time since the UrSkeks departed that Raunip returned.

Little had changed, and all things as well. Though the Castle was free of the grime he had seen many times in dreamfast, the Darkening of the Crystal had spread into the Castle itself, and the wall shone with an eerie glow. Raunip tried his best not to gaze into their depths. Creatures of Thra could be corrupted from gazing into the Crystal veins. The Castle, cut from Crystal,might have the same effect, though he could not know for certain.

“Vasha kimnata, chudova. Vy pobachyte, koly tse mozhlyvo.” the podling guard bowed low, before returning to his post.

Though the guard had said he would be seen quickly, the Sister moons were already high in the sky, and an audience before morning was unlikely. Leery of the walls, Raunip fell deeply asleep.

Motion woke him. The room was entirely dark, and Raunip could not see. He was no longer laying down, but had been placed into a chair at some point. Fear gripped his heart. His mother had watched from a cage, in more than one cycle, as the vliya was drained from innocent creatures. The shape of the chair was different, but its purpose was clearly the same.

Light began to peak into the chamber from the grate that led to the great shaft. Raunip's eyes searched the shadows, until they fell on the guards who had first met him at the gate.

“It is you then? Who have been taking vliya?” If there were creatures here, they might be freed. “You have done these terrible things?”

“They have done their duty.” A soft voice answered from behind him. “And been rewarded for their service.”

Raunip watched as Kotho of the Podlings, now wizened and white haired, walked into view. “As have we.” The ancient podling spread his arms wide. “We have fulfilled the duty that you entrusted to us, Great Raunip. We have watched the Crystal well.” His smile turned cruel, then. “To great benefit.”

“And how long has your heart been dark, Kotho?” Raunip jeered listening closely to see if he could hear any creatures. But aside from himself, Kotho, and the two guards, nothing else breathed. “One ninet? Two? The crystal has granted you long life. How poorly you know to use it!”

“Darkened?” Kotho questioned. “Our minds were opened on the day of the Great Conjunction. The truth of the world was made known to us then. How wisely we have used what we were given. How we have shared the gifts of the Crystal.”

Raunip sank. “If only I had spoken that day.” He said sadly. “You would have been spared. You would have wept, Kotho, to know what you had become.”

Kotho ignored him, gesturing to one of the guards. “I am glad that you finally visited, Raunip. You were born from Thra, much like your mother was. I look forwards to tasting such a mighty vliya.”

The guard pulled a lever. And high above, the dark crystal rang.

***  
A knock came at Aughra's door. As she hastened to fetch it, Thra rumbled in warning. For days now, all of Thra had rung with a great cacophany, its only tune in discord.

Raunip stood at the door, held up by a young Gelfling boy, dark eyes filled with worry. “I found him at the edge of the Dark Wood, Earthmother.” the boy pleaded. “Please, what's wrong with him?”

Raunip's eyes were milky, his hair wispy, and skin pale. Aughra felt herself grow cold, as she gazed on the empty eyes of her son. “Fools! Accursed fools! What have they done!”

She took Raunip in her arms. As she did , something of him seemed to come back for a moment. “Mother.” He croaked. “It was Kotho, and Gyr, and Kel. The crystal darkened them long ago. They are no better than Skeksis now.”

Coughing, he laboured for breath. “I shou- I should have said something. Long ago. So, so very long ago.”

His voice fell silent, and his body grew cold. Gently, Aughra laid down her son. Around her, Thra echoed, and rumbled, and groaned.

“Hear me, Lifedrinkers!” Aughra called, in a voice for the mountains, for the rivers, and the trees. “I am Aughra! The Earthmother! You have Woken the World! Fear now its Waking!”

1.5

[Dark Crystal]| dragonraptyr

Aughra Woke, newly born from the world, in the dead of night. Stretching, she looked to the stars. Her birth was several ninet later than usual, but several still before the birth of Raunip.

“A new one!” A harsh raspy voice so much like her own pulled Aughra from her watching. There before her stood one who mirrored herself, from the knobbled form to the three eyes. From the curling horns to a whiskered chin. Beside this other Aughra, two Gelfling stood, looking on with eyes wide in curiosity.

“What is it, Orhtew? Is it a new Aughra?” One of the Gelfling asked. “Is it a new earthwatcher?”

The one who was not Aughra patted both Gelfling on the head. “Yes, young ones. Thra has decided that we need fresh eyes, to see what these old ones have missed. So it has given us a new Aughra.”

“New.” Aughra gave a snort at that. “Aughra's not new.” She peered at the inquisitive face of the other. “Don't believe Aughra. Don't see.” She held out a hand, offering dreamfast. “See, then, if you don't believe her.”

The other grasped Aughra's hand, and both were pulled into the dreamfast. Memories spun about both. She could feel Orhtew's confusion, then amazement as he understood the cycles, and the flow of time that had wrapped itself around her. And through his eyes, she could see the story of the millions of trine that had come before, when Thra, newly formed, had reached out to see, and given rise to the race of the Aughra.

She remembered the long hours that Orhtew had spent in the Great Library, reading the story of how those first watchers had learned to know the world around them, had named the rocks and the cliffs and the caves. When they had discovered the seas and streams, and taught them to speak.

She watched Orhtew hear stories of when the Aughra first watched other creatures and plants come into existence, curious about others like themselves.

Both drew back from the dreamfast, now familiar with each other. Orhtew regarded Aughra calmly. “I bid you greetings, Earthmother, on your journey through the ages. He bowed low. “I can only hope that your time with us is more pleasant than others.

Aughra grunted, giving a raspy laugh. “Might be nice. Have a break, not need to worry about Skeksis or that mess with Lifedrinkers.” She gave a sigh, looking over the Gelfing. “What's the matter? Scared of Old Aughra?”

“Orhtew called you the Earthmother.” the one who had not yet spoken ventured softly. “But you have just been born. What does he mean?”

Orhtew chuckled. “Time is turning in on itself, little Gelfling. Ages repeat, over again. The Earthmother was born the single voice for all of Thra, and is marker of those memories.”

“Then I have been born before?” the young Gelfling asked. “I will be born again?”

“Probably.” Aughra chuckled at the thought. “Maybe not. Depends on if anyone's gone and mucked things up.”

The Gelfling looked shyly at Aughra. “Will you remember us, Earthmother, when we are only a dream?”

“This world,” Aughra looked out, feeling Thra in her bones. “This cycle is not the same. Very different from most, with Aughra's everywhere, poking their noses into everything. Not easy to forget that. Huh!”

Orhtew laughed. “I shall let the other earthwatchers know of your journey, and we will keep our eyes open for the UrSkeks, should they arrive. In the meanwhile, you may wish to visit the Great Library.

“Library?” Aughra was curious now. “Saw it, in your memories. All of Aughra's knowledge, written there?”

“Oh you'll love it, Earthmother! All of the Aughras do. Everyone says that the Great Library of the Many Aughras is the most wonderful place on Thra, besides the Cavern of the Great Crystal!”

“Well? We're waiting then? Why?” Aughra bellowed out, a smile on her face. “Boojig, Gelfling. Let's see this Library, then!”

1.6

[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr

It had been fairly quiet, as far as cycles went. Aughra had awoken long after the Skeksis and the urRu had split, after Raunip had passed on. With no need to leave her Orerry for some time to come, Aughra had instead chosen to spend the time on various studies that had lain by the wayside thanks to the recent rash of busier cycles.

In their own way, those cycles had proven valuable, teach Aughra, and Thra in turn, much on the nature of the world that had gone unnoticed, and given Aughra new passion for the study of Thra itself.

She had studied the stars for cycles, charting their patterns across the heavens, until their movements were comforting and familiar, and the pattern of the Orerry as sure a guide to the trine as any timepiece.

Glancing up at it, she set aside the book that she had been etching, and fetched the box of crystal shards. It was nearly time for the Great Conjunction, and she would be having a visitor soon.

After seeing that a pot of ta was brewing on the stove, and a meal was set out, she stepped out the door to check on the finger vines. No matter how many cycles passed, the Gelfling Jen had a terrible habit of getting himself stuck in them. This cycle proved to be no different.

What was different, however, was the armour he wore, woven with urRu pattern, and the glittering dagger he waved about like a madman.

“What's this then?” She demanded in Gelfling. “Wrecking my vines, are you Gelfling. Going to break them?”

Jen paused, looking at her for a moment. Then he pointed the dagger at her. “You! Are you the Earthwitch called Aughra? Relinquish the Crystal Shard immediately, or you shall pay for it!”

Aughra gaped for a moment at the Gelfling's audacity. “nekhay yde” she chided the finger vines. Not bothering to help Jen up, she looked at him. “Coming, aren't you, Gelfling? Want your shard? You'll follow Aughra.”

Without waiting for his response, she headed back into her house, and poured out two cups of ta. Pushing one into his hands, she pointed to the box. “Shard's in there, Gelfling. Find it yourself. But first...”

She pushed her face close to his, pulling the dagger from his hands. Holding it up, she shook it at him. “What's this then, hmm? Going to stab Aughra? You show her what's going on.” She put the dagger out of his reach, and held out a hand.

He looked at it as though it was poison. “Are you going to cast a spell on me?” Jen asked warily. “The urRu say you can.

“Depends.” Aughra grunted. “Don't look broken to me. Nothing Aughra needs to fix.”

Unconvinced, Jen took her hand. His thoughts spilled out towards her, untrained and reckless. Much of it was not things that she did not already know. The context, however, surprised her. When she drew back, he looked at his hand in shock. “What was that, that I saw? What did you do to me?

“Dreamfasting.” She replied. “Gelfling art. Growing up with those Mystics, it's not surprising you didn't know.” She shuffled over to the table and sat down. “Around and around, time goes, in great cycles. Aughra knows them. Seen them. Sometimes the same. Sometimes they change.”

“I saw that much.” Jen admitted. “Time repeating over and over. You know I need the shard, then.”

“Mmhm. Do you?” Aughra focused her single eye on the boy before her. “Somethings change. Your mystics, this time.”

“What about the mystics?”

“When the Crystal cracked, so did UrSkeks. Into Skeksis and Mystics. Saw that much, didn't you?”

“Right. The Evil Skeksis, and the Good Mystics.” Jen sipped at the cup of ta, dagger forgotten. “But what does that have to do with the Mystics being different this time?”

“Got it all backwards, they did.” Aughra gave a cackle. “Good Skeksis, evil Mystics.” She pushed herself out of her chair. “Get your crystal, Gelfling. We're going to the Castle to find out what all of this is about.”  
***  
Passing down from the High Hill and through the Dark Forest, Aughra marched with a ready certainty. There had been no sign of a need to leave her Orerry in this cycle, and this proved to have been a foolishness.

Behind her, Jen scrambled over stones, hurrying to keep up. “Do you mean to tell me,” he panted, half demanding “That my masters, who raised and loved me, are evil? They are no different than in your memories that I've seen.”

“There's truth, Gelfling, and there are lies that seem to be so. Good to know the difference!” Aughra adjusted her path slightly, to take them through where once would have stood Stone-In-The-Wood. If her reckoning was correct, it would still stand.

“Your Mystics,” she continued “Give you armor. Teach you to fight back. Huh” She gave a guffaw. “Call Aughra an Earthwitch. Teach you to act with force, and punish those who deny you. These things good people do, eh?”

“I don't know.” Jen admitted. “I thought that they did. Up until you said they didn't. Now, I'm not sure.”

They walked in silence for several hours, picking their way through the trees. Soon enough, they came to a path, and Aughra bent down to examine it. “Mystics told you that there were no more Gelfling, eh?” She pointed to the tracks in the dust. “These are left by Gelfling feet, no more than a day old. Dead Gelfling can't leave tracks!”

She watched as Jen bent down, rubbing his fingers through the dust, something like hope in his eyes. “More Gelfling? Like me?” He asked her. “I'm not alone?”

The rattle of wagon wheels caught Aughra's ear, and she looked up. Giving Jen a nudge, she moved to the side of the path. “There's your answer.”

The wagon was filled with goods, the Gelfling at the reins strumming idly. As he passed them, he gave a nod, never breaking his song. Aughra waved a warty hand, chuckling at the expression on Jen's face. “Come on then, Gelfling. Got a ways to go, yet.”

***  
Gelfling guards surrounded the Castle of the Crystal, all hale and hearty, Aughra was pleased to note. Beside her, Jen tightly clung to both the crystal shard, and to his dagger, as if they were lifelines. Before they entered, one of the Guard approached Aughra.

“Please state your name, and your business at the Castle.” she said in a cool voice.

Squinting at who it was, Aughra nearly barked out a laugh. “Aughra, Keeper of Secrets, here to speak to the Skeksis on matters regarding the Great Conjunction.”

“And him?” the guard asked, pointing to a red-faced Jen. “What is his business?”

“Same thing.” Aughra stated. “Here for matters regarding the Great Conjunction as well.”

“Very well.” The guard acquiesced. “We will see you inside, and you will wait to speak to them.” Turning on her heel, she gave a sign to her peer. “Fetch someone to take my watch.”

She led them over the drawbridge, and into the Crystal Castle, bright and shining. Quietly, Jen slid up to Aughra. “That Gelfling.” He whispered. “She was in your memories. You called her Kira, in them.”

Aughra only gave him a sly smile. “Aughra doesn't know. You do?” she teased. As Jen's face redded, her smile drew wider.

They did not have long to wait before they were granted an audience. There were only two Skeksis in the throne room today, along with a mixture of both Gelfling and Podling, both guests and attendants. The guard from earlier stamped her spear on the ground, and bowed. “Lord SkekUng, Lord SkekSil. Aughra of the High Hill and her attendant to see you, on matters on the Conjunction.”

“Thank you, watchmaster. You may return to your watch” SkekUng replied. Standing, the Skeksis walked forwards to Aughra. “Greetings, Earthmother. We have missed you in our halls of late. We would hear what counsel you may give.”

“Cracked, the Crystal is, isn't it.” Aughra cackled. “Skeksis, Mystic, cracked as well.”

“It is so, Aughra.” SkekSil said respectfully. “The shard went missing long ago, when our other halves chose to depart the Castle. Have you found it? The Crystal must be mended by the Conjunction.”

Aughra pushed Jen forwards, the Gelfling now frozen stiff by the events taking place. “I have it, sirs.” he said, showing it. “My master told me to retrieve the shard, and sent me to Aughra.”

The Chamberlain gave a sniff, taking in Jen's armor. Then, he knelt down, so that he was nearly at eye level with the boy. “Oh, child.” he said mournfully. “You were taken by our other halves, were you not?”

“I was raised by them after they found me.” Jen said, not looking the Skeksis in the eye. “They cared for me, and loved me. I thought that they were protecting me. But nothing they have told me seems to be true. They told me that Skeksis only wanted war.”

“Oh, child, not true.” replied the Chamberlain. “Mmmmhh. Not true, you see?” And he gestured to the throne room, and the conversation that filled it. “We Skeksis value peace. Not war. For many ages, Gelfling and Skeksis have lived together. We would not break that apart.”

Aughra frowned, stroking her beard. “Your other halves. Will they come?”

SkekUng nodded. “We were evenly divided. That which we value, they abhor. What we desire in opulence, they find in simplicity. We desire our independence. So, despite their cruel hearts, they wish to be whole. They will come, Earthmother.”

“Good. Then you have no more need of Aughra.” She gave a nod to the Skeksis, and to Jen. “No need for old Aughra.”

“You're leaving?” Jen asked, looking aghast.

“Didn't you hear? Didn't you see? You know what's got to be done, not going to have any trouble doing it. Aughra's going back to her High Hill.”

“Then you have our gratitude, oh Great Aughra.” SkekSil bowed. “We will not meet again, in this life.” He turned to Jen. “The Conjunction is tomorrow. We'll see about getting you settled into a room for the night, and something to eat, shall we?”

Aughra left the throne room, smiling in spite of herself. “Good Skeksis. Bad Mystics. What's next, Eh?”

1.7

[Dark Crystal]| dragonraptyr

This was quite unusual, Aughra had to admit, bouncing out of the way of her Orerry. She was born of Thra, many times over, to be its voice, and its eye. Apparently, being born of Thra was fairly literal in this case, seeing as she appeared to be Thra in miniature, with three small suns, and three small moons.

Beside her, Raunip hovered curiously, a small stone swinging about in her orbit. “Is something the matter, mother? Are there podlings caught in your gravity again?”

1.8

[Dark Crystal][Madoka Magica] | Masterweaver

Alien Flame

 

It was interesting, in a way, to become aware after she had been formed. To find part of her work done, without having done it, though she had. If she had not been used to the odd cycles now, she might have found it distressing. As it was... As it was, she was on the outskirts of a small gelfling village. A young Skeksis reveled with the curious gelflings; so easy was it to forget they had once been vivacious and charming, when she so often remembered what they would become in time.

She had intended to enter, in order to watch the proceedings, but something had caught her attention. A creature, so small, looking on silently as the gathering sung and danced together, and yet it did not join in the song. Not a twitch, not a hum, it simply stared with red eyes. That alone was strange. Stranger still was that she did not recognize it--after all these cycles, she did not recognize it. Such a small, harmless-looking creature, white and pink like a cloud loved by the second sun, with thin golden bands round its drooping second set of ears. And yet, it arrested her attention entirely.

It turned to look at her as she approached, and for a moment, but a moment, she saw something in those eyes that she had seen before; a simple questioning look, not of a young child, but of a wandering scholar. She had seen it on the face of the Urskeks, long ago; she saw it on occasion in the looks of young Skeksis and urRu. Not curiosity, curiosity came with a sense of wonder and awe, but merely... interest.

She harrumphed. "What's this then? We've never met before, have we?"

"I don't suppose we have." the creature replied.

"Hmph. Aren't you going to introduce yourself to old Augrah?"

"I am Kyubey." For a moment the creature said nothing. "I am... a visitor."

Augrah nodded, settling down next to the creature. The two of them watched as the Skeksis performed a great act of prestidigitation, earning applause from the gelflings around him.

"This world is quite the unique blend," Kyubey mused eventually. "The line between plant and animal is blurred... and the works of the Skeksis blend insect and machine. Not unheard of, but there is an underlying cohesion in the contradiction."

"You say words, but they don't feel right. No wonder. Just observations."

"I am a creature... was a creature without emotions. Even now, they are rare. Beside me sits a being of tree and stone, ancient watcher of the world for which she speaks, yet I do not feel awe or fear."

Aughra gave him a look. "Really."

"I respect you," he assured her. "I know better than to draw your ire."

"Mmm." Aughra considered him for a moment longer, reaching out to brush to tap his back--

\--podling vilya was akin to candles scattered around a room, so many sparks joining to make a great light, and gelfling vilya was a hearthfire, warm and all-encompassing. The Urskeks were pillars of flame, orbited by considerations and concepts; Aughra herself was a bonfire, illuminating the forests of her memories far and wide. But this creature's vilya... it was not the same shade as the others, for one. Instead of a warming blue, it was an unnervingly distant puce--and the flames of it flickered in unusually regular ways. And what flames they were, not gathered in a single room but spread in spheres across something like a fleet, almost all the same... here and there, a familiar flicker, but otherwise alien. The memories were organized and cataloged in a pattern strange but logical, and it was small comfort that Aughra realized her own memories were not flowing in as normal dreamfast, that this creature did not realize or care that it could pluck her clean simply because it did not see the point--

\--and pulled her hand back. After a moment, she nodded quietly, folding them together. "Perhaps it is best we do not fight, then."

"Perhaps." Kyubey nodded toward the party. "I did consider making a contract with some gelflings. They are well suited to being magical girls... but the existence of the urRu and Skeksis made me reconsider."

"Oh?"

"Some would say I am closer to Skeksis, because I drain essence--not to ensure my own survival, but that of the universe. I view myself more as urRu; Skeksis are short-sighted and emotional, and the urRu are as honest as I. But here, where light and darkness can manifest in such duality... it would be more obvious when a warrior of hope fell to despair, where the monsters they fight come from. It would only work a few times. In this world it would be an inefficient method of gathering energy."

"Feh, duality." Aughra spat. "Said it was foolish. A balance on two? It should have been three. Important number."

"In this world," Kyubey agreed. "In others... two. Four. Six. Forty-two. And sometimes, numbers are nothing at all." He tilted his head. "I wonder how long it will take for the Skeksis to start draining the other races."

"They are young yet," Aughra replied. "When they start aging... that's when they'll start looking."

"Mmm. If I were to make a contract with a Skeksis..." Kyubey considered for a moment. "...Or perhaps an urRu. Even if it doesn't work out, it will be an interesting data point."

"So it would be." Aughra stood. "Do not harm Thra, visitor. And be wary of allowing harm to befall it."

"I understand."

Kyubey said nothing more, only watching the party. Aughra looked at him a moment longer, memorizing his form and his words.

An anomaly. Something entirely new. Even after seven cycles of seven, there were still surprises, hmm?

1.9

[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr

Aughra Woke in her Orerry. As was now her habit, she began to search within herself for the dreamfast that would tell her the working of the world before she had Woken. As she did, her eye roved about the Orerry, searching for work left unfinished.

It was oddly tidy, with few experiments left out, and hardly any books at all.

Most disturbingly though, was the complete lack of any sort of an Orerry.

“No! My Orerry!” Aughra's dreamfast was broken before it was finished. “What have they done to it? Where has it gone?”

Aughra hurried over to where the Orerry would usually stand. There were no marking on the floor to indicate that it had ever been built, and in its place was a small pedestal of clear black stone, trimmed in wood and brass wrought in an ornamental pattern of stars and planets. Running her fingers across the top, she found a catch, and pressed.

The top of the pedestal lit up, and above her, in stunning colours and beauty, an Orerry carved of light spun into being like blooming flowers. The familiar orbits of Thra and the worlds around it arced gracefully through the air, unsupported by rods or gears.

“What's this then?” Aughra asked herself, reaching out to touch one of the comets as it rolled by.

Her dreamfast, so rudely interrupted, would surely have the answers. Calm now, she sank back into the dream, searching now for an answer and not merely letting the memories flow by.

The first Age of Thra was as she knew it to be. But the second Age was not. In this Age, Aughra and Raunip watched the Great Conjunction alone, and no UrSkeks arrived through the Crystal.

Instead, they arrived a few trine later, flown in a ship of crystal and glass from their home. With them, they had brought great machines of their people, which they had given to the people of Thra and taught them their construction and their use.

Looking around her home now, Aughra could see the signs of the UrSkeks' technology, as well as the adaptations that the Gelfling and the Podling peoples had made.

Aughra heaved a sigh. She had seen the working of these machines in the dreamfast. Now she had to make that knowledge her own. “Surprises, surprises.” She muttered, sitting down at a table. “Nothing but surprises from now on, I suppose.”

1.10  
[Dark Crystal][Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy] | dragonraptyr

Aughra stood in front of the Crystal of Truth, awaiting the probable arrival of the UrSkeks. As the suns neared their peak, the Crystal sang ominously.

A single figure stepped out of the Crystal.

Aughra stepped back. The figure was about the size of a Podling, with a very large nose and small eyes. It looked over her for a moment, then tilted its head in confusion.

“Are you a girl? Because you're not a very pretty girl.” The child(?) said. Without waiting of Aughra's reply, the child began running all over the Cave of the Crystal. “What's this place? It's shiny!”

“It's the Cave of the-” Aughra began

“LAME.” the child cut off. “No one wants to listen to an old lady.” He(?) stopped before the Crystal. “Ooh. It's pretty!”

The child reached out, and poked the Crystal.

Instantly, ominously, the entire Crystal dissolved into crystal dust. As it did, all of Thra wailed, rumbling ominously as the planet began to break into a thousand fragments. As Aughra's form lost cohesion, returning to rock and root, her last conscious memory was of her erstwhile visitor looking a bit sheepish.

“Oops.”

1.11

[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr

Aughra was born to an empty world. From the moment that she was formed, Thra was silent, and still. Though life still lived - still crawled, the Song of Thra and the light of the Crystal did not fall upon the land.

Never had Aughra's world before been silent. Never before had the Crystal been unmade. For the first time, Aughra was nearly without purpose.

The animals did not need her. The trees cared not to see. The rocks and the rivers cared not to think. And the Gelfling – young though they were – were not innocent, and unknowing of the world.

Aughra watched it all. Though she was newly born, the cycles weighed on her as never before. To mark their passing, now her only task.

She travelled to the Cavern of the Crystal to confirm what her heart already knew. The cave, though filled with beautiful gemstones, was devoid of its Crystal heart.  
The UrSkeks would not come. She could not give life to Raunip's empty stone. And whatever path the Gelfling chose, Aughra had no place in it.

She turned to the east, and began to walk, until she passed beyond the hills, and was gone.

 

What are the Infinite Loops?

The Infinite Loops themselves are the result of the great World Tree Yggdrasil being damaged, and the gods and goddesses that governed the World Tree placing those worlds into Time Loops to mitigate and repair the damages. In the context of the Loops, these gods and goddesses are represented as system admins, to make it easier for mortal minds to understand what they’re doing.

But these loops cannot simply repeat ad infinitum. Each World, or Branch in Loop parlance, needs someone to act as an Anchor. This person will remember every Time Loop, and help keep their Branch from dissolving into an inky pit of nonexistence. Over time, more people, your common or garden Loopers, will begin to remember as well, saving the Anchor from soul-crushing loneliness, bad ideas, and attempts to ascend to godhood themselves.

Sometimes, the Branches of Yggdrasil will get tangled together, creating crossovers, or Fused Loops. Over time and cross-pollination of ideas, Loopers have come up with tips and tricks to bring things with them between Loops, let each other know if they’re Looping, and cause general mayhem and hilarity. Explosions frequently ensue.

While Loops usually start at the beginning of the story, Yggdrasil is broken, buggy, and has a weird sense of humor sometimes, so nothing is set in stone. Or in pudding, as the case may be. Loopers can wake up at any time, and at any place, in any form. Symptoms include tripping, stopping in the middle of sentences, vacant distant expressions, or Death Stars randomly appearing complete with lighting and maniacal laughter.

With such a varied cast and setting, there is more than one community writing for the Infinite Loops. Our community can be found at Spacebattles, in the Misc. Loops Thread. Feel free to join us, and leave your sanity at the door.

Compiler Notes:

1.0 - Lono is the Hawaiian god of rainfall, peace, and music, among other things.  
1.4 - Gelfling Vampires, anyone?  
1.5 - Lots and lots and lots of Aughras.  
1.7 - Eventually, the Podlings ended up forming a space program.  
1.8 - Aughra’s first encounter with an outside Looper. Too bad neither of them know that.  
1.10 - Wherever he goes, Billy causes trouble.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Note: This chapter was written pre-release for Age of Resistance.

2.1

[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr  


Song filled Jen's ears. The sweet sounds of a firca flute filled the small space, casting a spell of calm over him. Jen paused to listen to the song, only to be saddened when it cut off abruptly in the middle. Coming to himself, he found that it was his own hands that gripped the flute that had fallen from his lips.

Looking around, he found himself caught in a picture of his youth, at the edge of the waterfall pool in the Valley of the Mystics. Overhead, a dark sky crackled ominously, a storm the likes of which he had seen only once in his long lifetime.

Standing, he was caught off-guard by the strength that filled his frame. Though the light of the Crystal had restored his youth before his departure, it had been many trine since he was truly young, and the sense of it was invigorating.

Dressing himself, his ears flicked backwards at heavy footsteps coming through the undergrowth, and Jen turned to see the many-lined face of urZah standing there.

“urZah.” Jen said politely, trying to calm his heart. Was this no vision of the past, then? He reached out, feeling for the light of the Crystal, and was saddened to find that it was dim and dark, singing Thra into a spiral of decay. “Do you have need of me?”

urZah nodded his great head slowly. “In your cave, Gelfling, there is one who has need.”

If this was no mere vision of the past – if the Crystal was truly dark as if felt, and had not yet been mended. If Jen truly stood in the past under a dark sky... “Master.”

We may meet again. But not in this life.

His old master's words echoed in Jen's ears, dusty with age. This then, must have been a different life, one where they could both meet again, even for a moment.

“Thank you, urZah. I will go to him immediately.” Jen gave a polite bow, before breaking into a run.

How good it felt, to be young enough to run. His master had had so little time, long ago. Now every second that Jen could add to that time was a gift that was precious beyond any song.

“Master?” Jen entered the cave, trying to catch his breath. “Oh, dear Master.”

urSu barely raised his head at the disturbance, his dim eyes catching sight of Jen. “Oh, Gelfling,” he said mournfully, “I was born under a shattered sky. The Crystal sang, for the three made one.”

“The Great Conjunction.” Jen patted his master's hand. “I know of it, Master.”

urSu gave a heavy sigh. “The rule of the Skeksis has brought pain. And evil Garthim serve the Dark Crystal.”

Would that he had known this sooner! Jen bowed his head, lamenting his follies in guiding the Gelfling reborn. To surround himself with the tools of his enemies – to dare to use them – was a foolish path. He had neglected Aughra's wisdom then, and that of his master.

His master looked at him, as if he could guess what Jen was thinking. Ponderously, he raised one of his left arms over a copper bowl. In it, Aughra's observatory blossomed. “On the High Hill, watching the heavens sits the home of Aughra, keeper of secrets. A wanderer may come from under the mountain, bringing murder – and birth.”

“Yes, master.” The fire that had consumed the observatory filled his mind's eye. He knew how to find the shard. Aughra's home would be spared in this lifetime.

“Mark well this Crystal shard, Gelfling.” urSu raised his hand again, the Crystal shard appearing under his fingertips. “A Gelfling must restore it to its rightful place, and heal the wound of the Dark Crystal.” His eyes found Jen's, and Jen could not bring himself to look away. “You are that Gelfling wanderer.”

“Oh, Master.” Jen stroked the old Mystic's hand gently. “Dear master.”

urSu gave a cough. “And this is the tool that will forge your fate. Now, Gelfling, you are alone.”

Jen smiled, finding his eyes had filled with tears. “I will never be alone, Master. I know that a part of you will be with me always.”

That made urSu smile, and he patted Jen's shoulder. Remember me, Jen. We will meet again, though not in this life. You must make haste, for the brother suns will not wait.”

urSu fell silent, laying his great head down on the pedestal. Jen stood, wrapping his arms gently around his mentor. Though urSu could not hear them, Jen was bidden to speak anyway.

“Dear master. I have lived this life before. I lost you then as well. You sent me into the world without telling me where to go, or what I must do. It is thanks to others that I learned that truth, and saw the UrSkeks reborn. I did my best to lead my people, to make my world in the light of the Crystal, but I lost my way at the end.”

urSu's body began to fade under his arms, now still and cold. Tears streamed down Jen's face, though he did not let go. “I wonder, master, what your counsel would have been for me? I still have so much to learn, and no time to learn it.”

urZah and urIm poked their heads into the cave, seeing Jen sitting sadly on the bed where urSu had rested. Together, they bowed low their heads to mark his passing.

UrZah reached out a hand to Jen. “Come. We will see him off.”

Jen nodded, watching as the two Mystics gathered urSu's belongings. Together, they stepped out of the cave, walking down the spiralling path to the valley's center. There, they set urSu's belongings, arranging them ceremonially. UrZah and urSol nodded towards Jen.

Taking up his firca, Jen began to play a tune filled with great sorrow. In accompaniment, the urRu chanted in their deep voices, all of them together walking the meditative paths.

UrZah bowed his head. “Dear friend, be well.” As they raised their arms, urAc began to glow with blue flame. In the center of the circle, urSu's belongings glowed with the same fire. “Receive your belongings. Receive them serenely.”

He turned to Jen, the other Mystics continuing to chant. “Now we send forth Jen. Watch over him, in all that he does.”

Jen stood to leave. UrZah raised a hand. “A warning, Gelfling. Unless you gain your goal before the three suns touch, the foul Garthim hordes will kill you.”

Jen nodded, hugging the old Mystic. “I will remember, urZah.” He stepped back, walking up the path that led out of the valley. “I wish I had more time to speak with you all. There are so many questions that I still have, about what waits me after. I know how to mend the Crystal, but I an unsure how to lead the hearts of my people, even after all these trine. I do not know how to keep from losing my way.”

He stepped beyond the circle of stones, remembering to check the sky and the shadows for Crystal bats that might alert the Skeksis to his presence. “Maybe Aughra will have answers.”

An image leapt unbidden into his mind, of Aughra playing at Gelfling politics. “Then again,” he laughed, “probably not.”

***

It did not take him as long as before to cross the plains and the Black River, going north up the side of the mountains until Aughra's observatory came into view.

As before, there was no sign of an easy way up the cliff, leaving him to pick his way up the rocks carefully.  
Around him, creatures scuttled away, letting him watch their motions calmly. Once they had startled him, and he thought them strange. Now he paid them no notice.

Along the way, however, he found his path blocked by a death-stinger as large around as his head. Presumably, it had finished its sunning the last time, and had moved on before he encountered it. That, or he had taken a different path.

Jen stood back politely, hoping that the creature would take notice, and choose to move. Instead, it fixed a crystal eye on him.  
“A Gelfling.” It said in an even voice that Jen could understand. “What do you want?”

“I'd like to go past, if you don't mind. I need to get to Aughra's as quickly as possible.” Jen kept his voice even. “If you do not wish to move, then I would ask that you do not strike at me, so that we each go our ways without harm.”

The Death-stinger shook, and it took Jen a moment to realize that it was laughter. “No Arathim would step aside for a Gelfling!” it jeered. “Our kind have been mortal enemies for thousands of trine. You and I are no different.”

In spite of the spider's words, Jen found himself curious. “You know something of Gelfling history?” He asked. Though he had no time, and the Death-stinger was unlikely to acquiesce, it was tempting to sit, and listen to it talk.

“You know nothing?” the Arathim asked in return. “You will hear nothing from me then. You will live out your days knowing that the Arathim know the secrets of your history, and you will despair!” It stood up then, slowly. “I will tell you this of your history, Gelfling. It has been a very long time since I tasted Gelfling. You will die knowing the fate of at least some of your people. Take comfort in it!”

The Arathim leapt. Jen was left with no path to take, forwards or back. Before the spider could reach him, a staff swatted it out of the sky.  
A curious creature stood there, with two curling horns, and two mismatched eyes that gleamed with good humour. A tail twitched behind him.  
“Pardon me, brother Arathim.” the creature rasped. “I wish to pass.”

The Arathim stood, glaring. “If I let you pass, you will take my dinner from me. Find another path, son of Aughra.”

Jen stepped carefully around the Death-stinger. As he passed, the Arathim made to move forwards, only for the figure to hold his staff in its way. “I am afraid that you will have to find food elsewhere tonight, oh great Arathim. Aughra is expecting this one.”

The spider backed up, grumbling. “Two Gelfling in one day, and I'm not to eat either of them? Begone, trickster.” It waved a foreleg. “If you will not let me eat, then let me see no more of you!”

Quickly, Jen and the son of Aughra walked away from the Arathim, the strange creature leading Jen on a path that he would not have found by himself.  
“Raunip.” The figure said suddenly. And Jen's inquiring expression, he laughed. “It is my name. Raunip, son of Aughra the Earthmother, the Keeper of secrets and Watcher of the world!”

“I had wondered.” Jen admitted. “I did not know that Aughra had a child.”

Raunip nodded. “She often doesn't.” he admitted. “My dreams are not frequent, nor are they whole. Often, my mistakes lead me to ruin.” His eyes twinkled merrily. “It is fortunate then, that this time they have been fairly complete.”

There was a secret hidden in those words, Jen was certain. But the meaning of them hovered, just beyond his grasp.

As they came to the entrance of the tunnel to Aughra's observatory, something the Arathim had said caught in Jen's mind. “Raunip, the death-stinger said that I was the second Gelfling it had seen today. What did it mean by that?”

Raunip only gave a sly grin, waving the finger vines away. “Do you wonder, Jen?”

The door to the observatory opened, Aughra's Orrery spinning away in graceful arcs as if it had never been broken.

Aughra was there, speaking to a slight figure in a brown hood. At the sound of their entrance, both turned to see the new arrivals.  
“Kira?” Jen's heart caught in his throat. “Why... how...?”

Raunip stepped back, letting the two Gelfling approach. Cautiously, they both raised a hand, interweaving their fingers and falling into the dreamfast.  


Their childhoods spread out before them/their meeting in the swamp/a terrible ache as Kira's essence was drawn from her/Jen's fear at finding himself in the Garthim pit/Kira and the Crystal healed, the UrSkeks departing/going out into the world and finding other Gelfling, newly made and curious/long trine of rule and dreaming together/Thurma's coming and the crystal's shattering/battle with the reborn Skeksis/departing into the Crystal/waking, as if the future had never been -

They pulled away, looking at each other with love and awe. Then they both hugged the other to themselves tightly, as if nothing on Thra could possibly tear them asunder.

“I didn't even think to hope.” Jen found his voice cracking and his eyes full of tears for the second time in less than a day. “I found myself here, and didn't dare to let myself hope!”

“Shh.” Kira brushed away his tears. “I felt no different. As if a piece of me had been pulled away, and with no way of knowing if I would find it.” She clung to him, as if afraid that he would vanish. “I'm glad you're here, Jen.”

“So it's both of you, then.” Aughra's voice caught their attention. “You remember everything.”

Jen and Kira nodded together.

“It's like I was waking up, and everything was the same as before.” Jen wrapped a hand around Kira's shoulders.

Kira tucked her hand in his, without making a link of dreamfast. “All I knew was that I was alone, and that the Crystal was cracked once more.”

Aughra gave both of them a nod. “A long time ago for Aughra, the world froze, and then began again at the beginning. Time turning back on itself, with Aughra watching it all happen. Mostly the same, though sometimes different. Raunip,” she pointed at her son. “Sees these cycles some times. In visions. But he doesn't remember like Aughra does.” She pointed at the two of them. “Not like you do.”

“Then this will happen again?” Kira asked. “We're going to wake up in the past as if nothing happened?”

“Mmm.” Aughra pointed at a table where food had been set out. “Maybe yes. Maybe no. The stars have no answers for Aughra.”

“I do not see my visions in every cycle.” Raunip offered. “Mother has shown me many cycles that I have not seen in visions.”

“Mucked things up too, you have, by seeing the wrong thing.” Aughra teased in good humour.

Raunip adopted a look of mock offense. “The lifedrinkers were only twice, mother.”

“Seventeen.” Aughra corrected him, cackling at his expression. “Now you two. Eat, get to the Castle. Heal the Crystal. Once that's done, we'll have a bit of time.”

2.2  
[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr

Kira woke in a dusty land, far from the Podling village, and further still from the Castle of the Crystal.

"Isn't this... the Valley of the Mystics?" She asked herself.

Aughra had told them both that the cycles were never still, and ever changing as water flowed. They could not count on their lives to play out the same way every time. Within one's self lay two sets of memories - those memories that they carried with them, and those that their past selves had dreamfasted to them. Kira took these now, and compared them to the memories that Jen had shown to her. She was pleased to note that they were mostly the same.

The Great Conjunction was still some years off, which would give her the time to grow to know the Mystics. Thanks to the Podling, she would have no trouble with food acceptable to Gelfling tastes. Giggling to herself, she could recall the vivid annoyance with which Jen would show her memories of urAmaj's cooking. "He's a wonderful cook, and taught me a lot. But Mystic food does not appeal to Gelfling, I fear." he had told her on several occasions.

Standing, she winced at the stiff pain in her shoulders. Biting back a groan of frustration, Kira made a note to speak first to the Herbalist. Her wings growing in had been troublesome enough in one lifetime. It was a shame then, that she had to go through it again in another.

2.3

[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr

The theatre was packed to the brim. Outside, a line stretched down three city blocks with a line filled with Gelfling of all tribes, Podling, Arathim, and Garthim all waiting to try out for a spot on Thra's newest media sensation - Talent Competitions. Aughra sat at the judge's table, flanked on either side by Kira and Jen. Unhurriedly, she began marking down her opinions on the last contestant. The Gelflings beside her both looked as if they were sharing the same headache.

"How did we even get involved in all of this?" Jen hissed to Kira, hoping that none of it would be recorded. "I don't even understand half of what's going on!"

Kira shrugged. "It's a great deal easier than sneaking into the Castle to repair the Crystal. I for one am welcoming the change."

As the two continued to argue, Aughra merely chuckled, watching as Raunip came on stage. He cleared his throat, and the two stopped arguing, plastering very fake looking smiles on their faces.

"Our next contestant will be the Lord Chamberlain SkekSil, and his other half urSol, who will be performing a piece of interpretive ballet." Raunip read the words as if he couldn't quite believe them.

Jen looked confused. "What in the world is ballet?"

Ballet turned out to be some sort of dance, full of twists and jumps, the epitome of grace. Aughra would have enjoyed it, save for the fact that it was being performed by a creaky old Mystic, and his treacherous Skeksis counterpart - both of whom were terrible. After the dance was concluded, Raunip came back on stage. "And what is the word from our judges this evening?"

"I can't even - " Jen stood up and left the table. "None of this makes any sense. Goodbye. Let me know when the world stops this insanity."

Kira tried her best to hold out. "It was very... different." she said at last. "I can truly say that I have never seen anything like it." As an aside, she leaned over to Aughra. "And I hope I never need to again." she whispered.

Aughra made a note. "Bad. Or good. It's all the same." She looked at the chamberlain and the chanter. "But you two dance like a drunken nebrie covered in mouthmuck. Next!"

2.4

[Dark Crystal] Wild Wild Wild East

The air was hot and dusty, even in the relative shade of the alehouse. Aughra wiped down the grimy bar, calmly watching the dim room. A song-teller sat on a creaking stool near the stage, strumming his lute idly. Here and there, dirty Gelfling sat at the tables, sipping cool drinks over games of chance and fortune.

"Every time I think that I've seen everything that Thra has to offer, it surprises me." Jen muttered from his seat at the counter. "A gold rush. What do Gelfling even need with gold?"

Aughra shrugged, refilling Jen's drink. "Gelfling don't. But Skeksis want it, and offer great rewards to lucky Gelfling." She slid the drink down to Jen - a pointless gesture, but why not? "Their greed makes foolish Gelfling dance to Skeksis' songs."

Up on stage, Kira poked her head through the curtain, waving at Jen and Aughra. As they waved back, the song-teller sat up straight, tuning his lute and tapping the dust from his hat. A merry chorus struck up, rousing the tired Gelfling from their stupor, and drawing their attention to the stage. The curtain rolled back, and a mixed troupe of Podling and Gelfling began to dance and sing. From outside, a few stragglers wandered in, glad to get out of the sun and watch the show.

Aughra stepped out from behind the counter, taking orders from the newcomers. As she returned to the bar, she gave a grunt. "Don't like what's going on?" She poked at Jen, who had pulled his hat over his eyes, leaning against the counter tiredly. "What are you going to do then, eh? Sit here? Do nothing?"

A muffled reply worked its way around Jen's hat. "I don't know yet. What about you?" he shifted on his stool, looking up at Aughra. "You always watch, don't you want to do something, sometimes?"

Aughra gave a raspy chuckle made worse by the dust. "Nothing needs Aughra's attention yet." She fixed her eye on Jen. "Gold-mad Gelfling, not somthing Aughra needs to worry at yet."

A commotion among the tables caught their attention, as a Sifa and a Dousan began arguing over a match of cards. Aughra gave a nod. "Things like that, they need cleaning up, though. None to put down any rules out here. Too far out to send word quickly."

Jen shrunk under her gaze. "I do a bad enough job leading the Gelfling who are reborn. What am I to do here?"

Aughra gave a smile, stroking her beard. "Practice, Gelfling. There is no other way to learn well." She tipped his chin up. "One day, you will be a great leader. But not if you sit here, doing nothing!"

The bar suddenly fell silent, what little light that made its way in going dim. Outside, landstriders barked loudly at a sudden commotion. Aughra and Jen watched together as the Chamberlain and the Hunter, both in gaudy getups covered in sparkles, pushed their way into the tavern. As the Hunter strode up to the bar, the Chamberlain began going around the tables, collecting coin from Gelfling.

Aughra looked at Jen with a smirk. Jen sighed, and stood, pulling his hat forwards. "All right, Aughra. I'll do something." His lips quirked into a grin. "A Skeksis or two, I can certainly handle."

2.5  
[Dark Crystal][Sailor Moon] | Masterweaver

The distressed mewling of Fizgig was a counterpoint to the Garthim clanging in her skull as she awoke, groaning and clutching her temples. "Otkooda...? Otkava skeksis kamadee hor piopala?"

A voice scoffed. "'Dreamfasting! Sharing our memories!' Telepathy would have been bad enough, but oh noooo, it had to be species-native soul magic."

She blinked, sitting up--and whimpering as the light hit her eyes, bringing another headache. "Mmmnnnrrr..."

"That'll be your soul resettling into your nervous system. It'll take a minute for the sensory filters to be put back up, so you're going to be hyperaware of everything."

"Is that why it feels like there's skeksis shrieking in my head?"

"Pretty much. And I guess it's not entirely inaccurate either, everyone has darkness..." The voice sighed. "You were lucky, you know. Lucky it was me."

"You?" She blinked, trying to keep her focus on the speaker, but everything in the room was just so fascinating...

"Yes, me." The figure seemed... amused? "I'll wait until you're coherent enough to talk."

Something about that tone caught at her. She shut her eyes, absently running fingers through Fizgig's fur as he nuzzled against her. Gradually, the sound of the world... lessened. It didn't fade, exactly, she just found it easier to focus on what was in the room. To keep her attention on what was right in front of her--

Her eyes snapped open with a gasp. "You--you're not a gelfling!"

"Nope!" the creature sang with a grin.

And it was a grin. Her face was similar enough to a gelfling's that Kira could see it as a grin. But her jaw was recessed, to a point where her face was almost flat--save for the nose that defied the slope of her lips, sticking out at nearly a right angle with thin nostrils. Her ears were lower than she was used to--or perhaps her skull was taller, it was difficult to tell with such tiny, round things pressed to the side of the stranger's head. It could have made for a tiny-looking face, if its owner was not so tall--not as tall as an urSkeks, but she wouldn't be surprised if the stranger could look the Skeksis in the eye.

The humor faded from the smile, as it became more caring. "Seriously, though, are you okay? It was touch and go there for a bit, I want to make sure everything's working fine."

"I... think so," she replied, not taking her hand off Fizgig. "I mean, the headache's... going away now." She shook her head. "What happened?"

"You tried to dreamfast with an O7 Anchor, that's what happened. You need to learn to restrain yourself if you're going to do that with every looper you meet."

"...I..." She shook her head. "This is strange. I... understood what you said, but I also didn't? I know those words, I can sense their meaning, but somehow... it's like..."

"Like you have all the pages of a book, but they're scattered and unnumbered."

"Yes! That's it exactly!"

The stranger shook her head. "Dreamfasting. Will wonders never cease... Alright, let's start over. My name is Tsukino Usagi, Anchor of the Sailor Moon universe, one of the original seven loops. Now, there is a great tree called Yggdrasil--"

\--a myriad of worlds, inhabited by beings she did not know, could not know, some like her and some very different, magics and wonders greater than her imagination--

"--can you hear me? Kira, are you back yet? You kind of stared into the distance there for a moment."

"Yggdrasil... the world tree. It's sick... isn't it, that's what you're going to tell me? That it's sick, and that we're repeating because of it?"

"Looping," Usagi corrected gently. "The administrators put the worlds in time loops while they fix things."

Kira shuddered, still stroking Fizgig, more for herself than for him. "How do I know... the dreamfasting. Wait... I don't remember dreamfasting with you."

"No..." Usagi sighed, sitting down. "Kira, I... when I say I'm an original seven anchor, I mean I'm old. Older than Aughra old. And you tried to show your soul to mine... I wasn't ready for that. One little slip-up, and you were caught in my existence. For less than a second, I managed to pull you out as soon as I realized... and I'm well versed in healing souls. What you got, what you remember, is essentially everything you should, right up to thirty seconds before you tried to dreamfast with me--and the biggest, deepest parts of my memories echoing in your head. That's why you have a partial understanding of what I said--because Yggdrasil is so important to loopers, a constant presence, that it echos. I'm going to give you the speech, match those memories to the explanations they need, but I think you need time to resettle yourself, okay?"

"Okay." Kira nodded. "Okay... but, wait, what about the dark crystal?"

"I can handle that."

"But--but there's a prophecy--"

"Oh, yeah, that thing. 'By gelfling hand or else by none,' right?"

"Yes, and Jen isn't really a fighter. I have to help him."

Usagi smiled. "Hey, I said I can handle it."

"But you're not a gelfling! 'By gelfling hand or--'"

"Then I'll just use my foot."

Kira blinked.

She stared at the stranger.

"...I don't think that would actually work... would it?"

Usagi beamed. "Won't know until we try!"                      

2.6

[Dark Crystal][Sailor Moon] | Masterweaver

Usagi, it turned out, had introduced herself to the pod people when she returned Kira to the village--apparently, she had some magic that let her speak whatever tongue she encountered, which she assured Kira was not all that uncommon. They were quick to adopt her as another clan mate, and quick to show their regrets that the Moon Spirit would soon be off on an adventure.

"Moon spirit?"

The golden-haired hu-man laughed at Kira's question. "Not of these moons, but it's accurate in more ways than one. And it's an easy way to explain my powers."

"So... you are like Aughra?"

"Mmmm, no, I'm pretty sure I'm not that observant. The senshi... our sailor crystals are attuned to our spheres, in our home universe." She considered her words carefully. "I suppose from your perspective, it would be as though Thra's crystal was embedded within your soul--or at least a crystal that could reflect its power."

"...how did I not know this?" Kira asked. "I was exposed to all your memories, after all..."

"All my--oh, Kira!" Usagi giggled. "You didn't get all my memories. Not by a long shot. You only got a glimpse at the memories I remembered."

Kira's ears and eyelids fell in unison.

"Right..." Usagi cleared her throat. "It would be functionally impossible for a mortal to remember every single experience they had through the loops. We're talking multiple lifetimes of universes worth of memory here. So what happens is this: at the end of every loop, a looper's memory is taken and stored on a higher-dimensional database--right, no computers, sorry, wrong metaphor..."

"A book of their life is put in a library," Kira said. "And... they can access the library whenever they want, yes?"

"Yes, but in order to do that, I still have to reach out and grab the book. Takes almost no time at all, but there's still time." Usagi started counting off on her fingers. "What you got when you dreamfasted with me was one: the memories I had of this current life, because that hasn't been filed away yet; two: memories of Yggdrasil and its functions, because those are basically the first memories a looper recalls when they start looping; and three: scraps of whatever miscellaneous stuff I had decided to recall before you dreamfasted with me. Not all my memories, not even a fraction. Just the most important stuff to this me."

Kira nodded slowly. "So... I gained a partial understanding of the loops... do you think I got anything else?"

"Well, you're speaking japanese like a native," Usagi replied.

"I am? I..." Kira paused, twitching her ears. "Huh. I... didn't even realize..."

"I'll say this for your dreamfasting thing, you are going to pick up on languages fast. Still not a good idea to just dive in like you did, did nobody ever--of course nobody ever taught you how to restrain yourself. Last of your kind syndrome..." Usagi groaned. "Well, nothing for it, I'm going to have to teach you how to control that, on top of all the usual looper skills."

"I thought you were going to be busy healing the dark crystal."

"Does your loop end right after that?"

"No..." Kira admitted.

"Then we'll have time." Usagi twirled a strange pink wand. "Crystals, darkness and light, soul magic... three different moons. Yggdrasil loves its patterns, I'll tell you that right now."

There was something in those words, some reference or joke that Kira had missed, and the amused little smile the hu-man had let her know that was intentional. Somehow, she suspected it wouldn't be the last time she saw that grin.                      

2.7

[Dark Crystal][Redwall] | dragonraptyr  
Matthias yawned, even though it served no real purpose. Stretching to get any kinks he'd managed to pick up pre-Loop, he ran through his in-Loop memories idly. It was sort of disappointing to have another Loop without a tail, but the ears at least were familiar enough.

Satisfied with the state of things, he sent out a Ping to see in any other Loopers were awake, or if he was dealing with a stealth anchor. Given what he remembered from the last time he'd seen the film adaptation, it was entirely possible.

The three suns overhead were mercifully cooler than Tatooine's own binary system, helped by the nearby waterfall. As he pulled on the provided clothes, a steady drone filled the air. His ears twitched, and his nose wanted to. Best to go along with baseline wherever possible, it seemed. The Loop was not particularly harmful to a visiting Looper, after all.  
***  
The business with the Mystics did not take long at all, and soon enough Matthias was on his way. Once over the ridge and out of sight of prying Mystics, he pulled the Sword of Martin and a landspeeder from his Pocket. Half a day's walk northeast would be maybe a half hour.

The land passed below him quickly, and he had to stop more than once to examine some strange plant or creature, taking photos of them to show Cornflower and Mattimeo next Loop. Everything seemed to be a little bit of everything else, with polyps that had never tasted saltwater perched comfortably enough on a rock snoring in the sunslight.

When he reached the cliff, he paused. It would be a great deal easier to simply dig a jetpack out of his Pocket and head up that way. But the scenic route was also appealing...

As Matthias debated, he watched some sort of crab scuttle along a ledge, only to be snapped up by some sort of a anemone. The easy way it was, then. No sense making a mess. he put away the landspeeder, rummaging about for a moment before pulling out a fairly battered jetpack of indeterminate origin. Strapping it on and activating a resizing charm to fit it to his new form, he lifted into the air.

From above, he could see a wrinkled old shape sitting on a hillock near the Observatory he had been sent to. Landing a polite distance away, he put away the jetpack, and gave his ears a flick.

The old woman was waiting for him, her one eye fixed on him.

"You're late." She said, quite drily. "Boojay. Come along, then. The food is getting cold."

"I'm sorry." Matthias replied. "I was a little Loopy there, and needed to Anchor myself."

"Right." She snorted. "And left old Aughra waiting on you. She doesn't have time for this, you know. Wasted half a day waiting for you to get here." She stood up, beckoning him to follow her. "No wasting any more. Come!"

Matthias plodded after her, frowning. "Do you ever find that time is going in circles?" He asked slowly. Her answer before had not been what one would expect of someone awake, but she could very well be dreaming, or else loop aware.

"Of course. How do you think I knew you were coming? When to get ready? Think I dreamed it, do you?" Aughra kept walking. "Not something worth wasting breath on. Here, then. Doesn't matter to Aughra. Not my job to do something about it."

They entered the Observatory, and Aughra pointed him towards a table set with food. "Food is there. Same with Shard. Saved you the trouble of digging it out."

"You got my Ping, then." Matthias held out a hand. "Matthias, Redwall Looper."

Aughra took his hand. A rush of thought and memory surrounded them, knocking Matthias off-kilter for a moment before he got the hang of the memory link.

"Dreamfasting." Aughra corrected him, humor coloring her mental voice. She was solid there, rock and root reaching back in time to the dawn of her world, and beyond it. She looked briefly through the few scraps of memory that he had let slip, before passing him some of her own. "Here. It will be a while yet, before you depart. Best to know more of Thra than you already do."

Matthias took them, and she let go of his hand. Her eye gleamed with amusement, and she picked up a piece of cheese. "Look through those." She advised, munching on it. "It's the same as if you were Waking."

Matthias put the shard in his jacket, unwilling to lose it in the mess that was his Pocket. As he headed for the door, he looked back at her. "I'll be back in a few days, if you don't mind. Your memories - I'd love to see more."

Aughra raised a hand, and he was gone.

2.8

[Dark Crystal][Dragonriders of Pern] |dragonraptyr

Robinton Woke at the edge of a wood and a plain. The trees were of no species that the Masterharper of Pern could name, and three suns burned hot overhead. Beside him, Zair stretched out his muscles, the eyes on the little bronze whirling.

"Where do you think we've ended up this time?" the fire-lizard asked his partner. "It isn't a loop that I recognize."

"No." The masterharper agreed. "I don't believe that we've been here before. I suppose that it could be a Star Wars loop, or a variant, but I have the feeling that we are a bit further from our usual grounds than that."

He let out a ping, listening for an answer for a few minutes. "No response." He gave a wry grin as Zair beat his wings. "It would seem that the local Anchor doesn't wish to be disturbed."

Robinton scanned the horizon until a faint trail of smoke caught his eye. "What do you say we meet the locals?"

Zair's eyes whirled up at him. "I hope they have some food."

***  
It did not take longer than a few hours of walking to reach the source of the smoke. Although the house was not far away, just inside the treeline, both Robinton and Zair had stopped several times to examine the world around them, whether it was a plant, an animal, or both. Robinton had pulled out a sketchbook and pencil to draw some of the lifeforms, while Zair had cut lazy wheels in the sky, darting between to examine anything that looked remotely edible.

Stepping up to the doorframe, Robinton was surprised to find that it was much smaller than he had thought. "Hello?" he called, bending down to rap at the door. "Is anyone home?"

Zair cocked his head, and then darted in through an open window. "There's no one in here." The fire-lizard reported. "It's all empty."

Cautiously, Robinton pushed the door open. Whomever had lived here had not been gone for very long. A fire still smouldered on the hearth, with various goods strewn about the room. In one corner, a pile of blankets looked like it had been thrown there fairly hastily.

Crouching so as not to bump his head, Robinton stepped into the room. "It looks as though these people were attacked." He commented, rubbing a hand over scratched flagstones. "Do you suppose it was a wild animal?"

Zair cocked his head, eyes whirling in confusion. "Don't know." He said at last. He made two laps of the small room, before diving into the pile of blankets. "Robinton? There's someone in here."

In half a stride, Robinton crossed the room, gently lifting the blankets out of the pile and setting them aside. As he shifted one, he caught sight of two bright dark eyes looking out at him before a dark hand tugged the blankets closer and scooted into the corner. Zair's eyes whirled, and the little fire-lizard dove into the pile of blankets, his mental voice soft and coaxing. "It's okay, Robinton won't hurt you."

The face peered out again, keeping an eye fixed on him.

Carefully, Robinton took a step back. Moving off to the side so that the figure could see the door, he sat down and pulled his harp out of his Pocket. Sitting down, he began to sing. Around him, the very air and stone seemed to lend its harmony. The March of the Wings was a familiar one to the Harper, and long practiced.

The melody filled the small room, and Zair poked his head out of the pile to croon along. Slowly, a hand reached out and pushed back the blankets, revealing the face of a small boy, his long ears swiveling back and forth to capture the melody.

Robinton kept singing, even as the boy crept forwards, shy and small with his eyes filled with both curiosity and fear. When he was several arm's lengths away from Robinton, he dropped into a crouch, listening to the song. Zair winged between to land on Robinton's shoulder, never once chirruping out of line.

Robinton strummed the last of the song, setting down his harp slowly and deliberately. The boy looked down at it, his ears still flicking every which way, then back up at him. "Are you a song-teller?" the boy asked.

Song-teller. Robinton frowned at tapped his chin, trying to find where exactly he had heard that turn of phrase before. "I am a Harper." He answered the boy at last. "I mark the history, the tradition, and the culture of my people."

The boy's ears flicked in what could only be the annoyance and confusion of the young. "What's the difference?" the boy asked cautiously. "Do you have harpers instead of song-tellers because you aren't a Gelfling?"

Robinton's head shot up as everything began to fall into place, Zair's eyes whirling wildly. "I am a human." Robinton answered. "And I come from a distant star. There isn't much difference between Harpers and Song-Tellers, although Harpers as a rule are often a bit more formalized." He picked up his harp and strummed it idly. "Why, child, were you hiding earlier?"

The questions that he wanted to ask, where are your parents? What happened here? went unasked.

The boy's ears pinned back again, and he backed up a bit. "There was a monster. A Hunter. It came in last night and it took away my parents." his eyes flicked up, taking in all of Robinton. "You're so big, I thought you might be him. But you've only got two arms, and you're a song-teller." His eyes began to water as he looked up at Robinton. "Do you - do you think my parents are..."

It was as if a dam had burst. Robinton's heart ached for this boy, who had just lost his parents. Wordlessly, he held open his arms, and the child bolted headlong into them, clutching at his chest and sobbing. He exchanged a look with Zair, half mirthful and half mournful. "I guess I know what we're doing, this Loop" he sent to Zair.

The little bronze looked angry on the child's behalf as memories of their other children poured over the link. "If I catch them, I am going to burn them." he sent back. "You aren't going to leave him, are you?" Zair gestured with a wing. "He needs you."

Robinton nodded. They stayed that way for a time, until the child's eyes dried a bit. "Come on, little one. There is much that we have to get done."

The boy nodded and sat up. "Okay." He looked up at Robinton. "What's your name?"

"I am Masterharper Robinton, of Pern. This little fellow is Zair. And who might you be?"

The boy stood up, though he still looked like he might run away. "Kylan, of the Spriton."

Robinton stood up, and muffled a plant-based curse as he hit his head on the ceiling. Crouching down a bit, he put away his harp. "Well, Kylan. It looks as if we may be travelling partners for a bit, until we can get you settled, hm?"

Kylan looked up at him, head tilted all the way back to look Robinton mostly in the eyes. "Can you teach me music on the way? Do you know many songs?"

Robinton laughed. "Do not worry. I know a great many songs." He stepped out into the sunshine, strumming his harp as Kylan hurried to keep pace, Zair landing on the spriton's head.

As the three suns climbed higher into the sky, a song he'd once heard in Middle-earth came to mind, and Robinton wasted no time in singing it.

2.9  
[Dark Crystal][LoTR] | dragonraptyr

Today was the day of a long-rehearsed party for Gandalf, being Bilbo's birthday party. It was a shame that the Hobbit did not appear to be looping - Bilbo had spared little expense in the baseline, and that had only grown as the Loops went on, into a party of extraordinary magnificence with gifts from all corners of the multiverse. Although Bilbo would not be awake, it was a good opportunity to test out a new batch of fireworks before the next party proper.

Pipe music filled the air at the corner where Frodo usually sat, strange and hauntingly beautiful. Gandalf smiled under his hat. "It would seem we have a visitor." He mentioned to the pony pulling the cart. "Let's go say hello, shall we?"

A hobbit was sitting on the side of the hill, playing a forked flute that looked as though it had been hand carved. He was fairly average in both appearance and in height, with the only thing truly of note being the blue streaks that ran through his hair.

Gandalf pulled the cart to a stop, and waited calmly for his visiting Looper to notice him. As the Hobbit came to the end of his song, he glanced up, staring in shock at Gandalf. "From your reaction," Gandalf mused, "I take it that you are not from these parts."

"Ah, no." The Hobbit admitted. "I woke up last week looking like this. I'm not exactly sure what is going on."

"Come here." Gandalf dismounted the cart. "I take it then, that you haven't been given our 'Welcome' speech yet, then." As the Hobbit shook his head, Gandalf began pulling the requisite materials out of his Pocket and setting them up. "I am Gandalf the Grey, if your memories have not told you that already. I am unfortunately though, lacking your name."

"It's Jen." the Hobbit introduced himself. "What are you doing?"

"It is a tradition that when we meet a new Looper - and you shall know them when you see them - that whomever meets them first explains the situation. I must admit," Gandalf hooked the projector together, "It has been some time since I had the opportunity."

The light flickered on, and Gandalf cleared his throat. "Reality is not the way it seems to be," he intoned. "All of creation, every world, every universe, and so forth, are all part of the great World Tree, Yggdrasil."  
***  
"That was...enlightening." Jen pulled up blades of grass, tucking them into the small Pocket that Gandalf had shown him how to make as practice. "It's a lot to wrap my head around."

Gandalf put away the last bits of the demonstration equipment. "It does start out that way. I promise that you will get used to it." He dusted off his robes, standing to his full height. "You appear to be replacing the nephew of a dear friend of mine, and one who's home I am a bit behind in getting to. There is certainly more to discuss about the Loop - I shall have to expedite some of my plans for the short term, but I had planned a bit of an upset anyway."

Jen climbed into the cart. "You could show me on the way." he offered. "I have nowhere to be, and nothing to do. If I can be of any help, I should like to be."

"Mm." Gandalf flicked the reins, and started the cart moving. Before he could say anything, Jen offered him a hand. Gandalf gave it a good shake, and turned his attention back to the road. Beside him, Jen looked at his hand in confusion. "Is something wrong?" Gandalf asked.

"In my home Loop, I am not like a Hobbit. We are called Gelfling." Jen turned his hand over. "We can share our memories through dreamfasting. Memories travel faster than words, and I thought it might be quicker to show me what you meant. But when I held your hand, there was nothing there."

"That is probably an ability that is currently limited to your species." Gandalf reassured him. "Over time, you may overcome that limitation, but presently you do not have that ability. It is for the best." His memories carried him back to the beginnings of Middle-Earth. "I was there when this world was sung into being. My memories are not to be remembered lightly."

Jen's cheeks coloured, though he closed his eyes. "Our world was sung into being as well, though not like yours, I think. The Heart of Thra sings everything into being, from the mightiest mountain to the smallest leaf. We can hear that song, if we listen." He paused for a moment. "It isn't quite the same here. Everything's quiet now, but it sounds as if someone was singing once."

"I should like to visit Thra then, someday." Gandalf said. "In the meantime, I do have some books that you might like. They've been sitting in my library for some time, and I think they could use reading. They're not as first-hand as memories, but they should help all the same."

2.10  
[Dark Crystal][Deltora Quest] | dragonraptyr

Kira's eyes flew open. Warm stone lit by torchlight stretched overhead, and stood solid beneath her feet. Beside her, Jen shook himself awake. If not for her memories telling her that it was Jen, she might have doubted. His skin was blue, with a ragged mop of red hair on his head. Small dark eyes looked out of his face, taking in all of the ways that she herself was different. She wanted to laugh at the expression on his face, strange and familiar all at once.

No words escaped her throat. Confused, she tried again to speak. Not even a grunt or a murmur made its way to the surface. Beside her, Jen's face had become alarmed as he grasped at his throat, trying desperately to make some sort of sound. Kira wanted to scream - to make some sound other than silence. Reaching out a hand, she caught Jen's sleeve, fumbling until her fingers touched his.

The dreamfast came slowly, as if from under a great depth, or from a great distance. "Jen?"

"Kira!" Jen's thoughts were full of joy at her voice. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." she replied. "I just can't talk."

Jen gave a silent sigh. "Me either. And we aren't on Thra either. We're in some other Loop."

Kira looked through her memories, sorting through the great library that she envisioned. She had skimmed them at first, but now she looked more closely. Through the dreamfast, she could feel Jen doing the same. Like their own home, this Loop had at it's heart great crystal gemstones, one for each clan. She could hear it's song, now that she wast listening for it.

"That sound." If Jen were still Gelfling, his ears would have been pinned flat against his head. "Oh Kira, can't you hear it? It hurts. This whole land aches with it."

Kira drove all of the other sounds from her head, listening closely. There was a faint buzz that stung her mind and slowed her limbs. Despair and Die, it seemed to sing. Give in, give up. There is no hope for you here.

"I hear it." She told Jen through the dreamfast. "It's terrible."

A ping shot through the air, making them both shiver from it's suddenness. Almost as one, they both replied. "We're in a village." Kira pointed out. "We should ask around for answers."

***  
It took a few minutes to track someone down, and another few to get some answers. In order, they had Looped in as members of the Ralad, a tribe from the land of Deltora. The Ralad had spoken out against injustice, and a wicked sorceress had stolen their voices over a hundred years ago. Fortunately, they had both writing and sign languages with which to communicate. Jen, upon learning of this, had taken to both with great enthusiasm, words flowing from his hands as fast as his fingers could form them.

Since that time, the Ralad had shared, a terrible evil had conquered Deltora, and driven their people into hiding for fear of capture. The Shadow Lord, they explained, would like nothing better than to enslave the Ralad people to his iron will. Jen and Kira had shared a look at this. They were no strangers to such fear.

The city of Raladin was a lovely place, both aboveground and below. Though the Ralad people had no voices, their love of music and song ran as deep as it did in Gelfling, and Kira often spotted Jen surrounded by Ralad children, playing his firca in counterpoint to their flutes. The children delighted in the medley of music that Jen could conjure. Whthere it was Mystic rhythms, pod tunes, or ancient Gelfing songs, the young Ralad were enthralled by them all.

Once, when they were aboveground tending to the gardens, a shrill birdlike pipe had echoed out, and the Ralad woman that Kira had been helping had tugged her down under a bush. "Grey Guards." the woman's fingers had spelled urgently. "They mustn't find us!"

The woman's fear was familiar. For trine, Kira had learned that she must always hide from the Garthim, or perish. Though that fear had passed, and the Garthim faded to a bad memory during her first lifetime, the Loops had made it a very real fear again, and a necessary skill. Almost by instinct now, she flattened herself to the ground as far as she could, for once thanking the curse that had stolen her voice.

Above her, five figures almost in the shape of Men strode across the ridge ahead. They wore light armor dyed grey, and carried slings and throwing stones openly. Despite how much like humans they looked (and she was no expert yet, at telling the difference), something about them reminded Kira sharply of a Garthim. She and the Ralad woman waited until the Grey Guards had moved out of sight, and for nearly half an hour besides that, before they made their way carefully back to the hidden village.

For several days after the visit of the Grey Guards, the village was on high alert. No music was permitted, and trips aboveground were kept to an absolute minimum. Near the end of the week however, several somethings changed.

Within nearly half a day of each other, the curse on the Ralad people had been lifted, and the oppressive buzzing noise that had plagued both Jen and Kira since they had Awoken stopped. It was not until the next day that they recieved answers.

***  
"So you're our visiting Loopers."

Kira looked up at the human in front of her. The girl was dressed like a Grey Guard, with a bird perched on one shoulder, and a small rodent on the other. "I am Jasmine." The girl introduced. "We got your ping, but you were not in the usual places that we check. Not many visitors end up Looping into Raladin."

Kira shrugged. "Our Loop doesn't have humans. But we've had a few loops where we've been blue, before. I suppose we ended up looping in as the nearest thing."

"Fair enough." Jasmine admitted. "Is your Loop very different from ours?"

Kira frowned, thinking the question over. "For all of its differences, it's familiar at the same time. The songs might be different, but they share certain melodies."

"I have no idea what you meant." Jasmine admitted bluntly. "I mean - what sort of technology does your loop have, or what sort of events usually happen? Some Loops have huge wars, some loops focus on car-racing. That sort of thing."

"Ah." Kira gave a nod. "Our loop is about the same in terms of technology as Raladin. Several hundred trine - years - ago, our people flourished, and spread far and wide. By the time that Jen and I reach adulthood, we are usually the only Gelfing left alive in our world. The others are wiped out by a cruel race called the Skeksis, because of a prophecy. At the heart of our world is the Crystal of Truth. From it's light, we are all born. Should something happen to it, our world will die." She grew quiet for a moment. "I'm not certain what would happen if your Gems were broken, but it can't be anything good."

"It varies." Jasmine admitted. "When they are just seperated, the Shadow Lord can get in and start destroying everything. Normally, he is not strong enough to destroy them. Sometimes... well it usually either goes downhill pretty fast, or the Loop crashes. One way ticket to Eiken there." She looked over at where her companions were talking to Jen. "You guys have any plans for the loop, or you want to sit this one out?"

"I can't speak for Jen, but I'd like to go with you." Kira stood. "It can't be any more dangerous than my home Loop."

"Grey Guards, giant sand beasts, stone-spitting seaslugs, carnivorous flowers and shapeshifting Ols not enough to frighten you away?" Jasmine gave a wicked grin, as if to dissaude her.

"There are plenty of dangers in my own world as well." Kira ticked off some of Thra's more dangerous wildife. "Ruffnaw hunt through movement, Blue Mouths look like trees and their berries lure you in, some hills will try to eat you if you sit on them, and finger vines will catch and eat you slowly. Death Stingers grow to enormous sizes, but even small ones can kill. Garthim are nearly invulnerable unless you get lucky, our plagues turn you into walking piles of fungus... Deltora can't be worse than our world at its worst."

"It sounds beautiful." Jasmine laughed. "It's certainly wilder than some Loops I've seen. Together then?"

Kira nodded. "Of course."  
2.11 Never a Normal Coffee Shop, part 1

Aughra stretched as she Woke up. Taking a moment to step off to the side of the street -cars, buses, an urban environment but still Thra – she gave a quick glance through her memories to see if there was anything of significant concern, before delving into them with a fine-toothed comb. Anything different or unusual was noted and set aside to be looked at later.

For now however, it looked like it would be a fairly quiet Loop. According to her memories, she was the owner and proprietor of an apartment building, and was on her way to her favourite coffee shop. Mulling on the subject for a moment, Aughra decided to head for the coffee shop anyway. She could use a cup of ta, and she had no shortage of work to put in order from previous Loops.

The Crystal Heart Cafe turned out to be slightly shabby in a comfortable sort of way, with paint peeling from the walls in places, and the floor would need to be re-tiled soon, but it was clean, well lit, and smelled strongly of coffee, ta, and good food.

Aughra ordered a large mug of ta, a plate of nebrie-cheese scones, and picked out an out of the way table where she wouldn't be bothered. Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out a docket of notes regarding celestial conjunctions across variant loops, set up a laptop she'd snatched from a loop as a college professor, and got to work.

***

It was late in the afternoon, and she was halfway through her seventh mug of ta, when one of her Loopers walked in the door. Aughra watched Jen closely, listening to see if he sent out a Ping, or if something in his manner gave him away. Silence on both counts met her, and she gave a shrug.  
The bell rang again, and Kylan of the Spriton darted through the door, throwing an arm around Jen's shoulders, teasing him lightly. The Song-teller dragged his fellow gelfling into the line, talking rather animatedly about something while Jen looked on in bemusement.

Aughra turned back to her work, keeping one eye (helpful, to have two this time) on the two gelfling, even as they chose a booth across the room. Both pulled out textbooks and notepads, huddled over some sort of homework.

She finished her mug of ta, and stepped away from her booth to order a new one. The podling behind the counter looked over his shoulder at Aughra. “Just a minute, ma'am,” he cheerfully called out. “My coworker will be with you in just a moment.”

When Kira appeared from the back, Aughra felt both ends of her moustache begin to curl in amusement. There was still no ping – and might not be, but this was certainly no coincidence. Aughra ordered another mug of ta - and a salad as well, and returned to her table. Quickly, she organized her papers, put them away, and pulled out a blank notepad and pen.

It wasn't hard to recognize the chorus of a song when you saw one, and this quiet loop looked to be exceedingly amusing.

2.12

[Dark Crystal] [dragonraptyr]  Never a Normal Coffee Shop, part 2

It took a bit of poking around for Aughra to track down the errant chords that made up the song that this loop wound around. Everything about this world was intertwined into the song, making finding its errant parts both exceedingly easy, and frustratingly difficult at the same time.

She had known her own role in this song, as an arbiter and an observer. But as always, the song's timbre rang deeper than what ears could hear. She had been forced to discard the idea of using this Loop to make meaningful headway into cataloguing her observations in favour of tracking down every last note that made the song thrum.

She sat at a desk in the offices of her apartments, looking over the tenant information with a frown creasing her lips.

For some strange reason, most of the major players from across Thra's history were gathered into a single nexus, focused in on a microcosm of time.  
Some of the players, she knew more personally than others, but all were names that she had come across in the Loops, trine and trine again. Each was centred on either the coffee shop, the apartment that she was in now, or the nearby university. Often, more than one at a time.

She tapped a lease contract thoughtfully. Jen was centred around all three, it seemed. He was renting an apartment with her while he attended the university, and often frequented the coffee shop when he wasn't in classes. Kira was much the same, though Aughra doubted either of them knew that they lived a few floors apart from one another.

A rap on the door pulled her out of her musings, and she shuffled the papers out of sight from prying eyes. “Come in.”

Almost waddling, the bulk of skekShod, the Treasurer, poked his way into the small room. “Is this a bad time?” the Skeksis rasped, looking disdainfully over the sparely furnished office. “I would have made an appointment, but I was in the neighborhood for other affairs, and thought I'd follow up on our last... discussion.”

Aughra looked through her memories for the event in question. Whatever her answer would have been when she was sleeping, there was no question as to what it would be now. “I'm not selling, Skeksis. Ask as many times as ye like, my answer won't be any different.”

“I had feared so.” Almost impressively, skekShod managed to plaster a mournful expression on his beak. “But you must know that this entire block is going to be rezoned. You'll have to sell eventually. Why not now?”

Aughra only gave a snort that turned into a rumbling chuckle. “Take that mouthmucked soft-talk of yours somewhere else. I have more important things to do than listen to you waste air.”

The Treasurer narrowed his eyes. “If that is your answer? Fine. See how you like it when the courts send you a notice informing you that your property's been siezed.”

He swept out the door, long ragged robes dragging on the ground. Aughra waited until she was certain he'd left, before stuffing the tenant information into her Pocket for safekeeping. As quickly as she could, she shuffled out the door.

If the song rang as its notes said, then she could already guess where the Treasurer was headed. This was a confrontation she wasn't eager to miss.  
As unobtrusively as she could, she walked towards the coffee shop, feeling pleased when her suspicions turned out to be correct as skekShod pulled the door open.

Ducking inside behind him, she watched him walk up to the counter, ignoring the shouts of anger from the patrons waiting in line. “Is your manager in?” he asked the gelfling manning the till in what was clearly intended to be ingratiating. It came out sounding like a rusted hinge instead.

The gelfling's ears pinned themselves to the side of his head. “Uh, not yet. She's running late. I can get my supervisor, though.”

“Please. I don't have time to wait around.”

Aughra slipped over to a table near the front, plucking her notepad from her pocket, keeping an eye fixated on the counter. Scratching at the base of one of her horns, she smirked as she watched as the Mounder-shepherd came out of the back, looking fairly annoyed at the entire situation.

She'd not met him personally yet - too much to do at that point in time, too many things that could swing one way or the other. She had to make time for that soon. But she jotted his name down anyway, and watched as he dealt – or tried to – with the Treasurer.

“Was there something I could help you with?” The shepherd's voice was flat and unamused by the Treasurer's appearance. “My coworker said you needed something.”

“Yes, I do.” the Treasurer pulled an envelope from somewhere in his robes. “See that your manager gets that and reads it as soon as she gets in. It's imperative that we get a response as soon as possible.”

The gelfling's eyes narrowed, and he tore up the envelope. “If it's about that money, then we've told you all before. We're not interested in selling. Please remove yourself from the premises.”

skekShod only drew himself up to his full considerable height, towering over the shepherd. “It seems that I will have to speak to your manager in person, then. A pity,” he flexed a talon, as though looking for dirt, and letting everyone see the razor-keen sharpness of it. “I had hoped not to waste my time today.”

He clicked his talons together sharply. “A hot cup of ta, then. And make a batch of fresh donuts. If I am forced to wait, you will provide proper services, for once.” He leaned over the counter, and Aughra watched the shepherd take a step backwards to get away from the rancid breath and malevolent height of the Skeksis.

SkekShod's eyes burned with uncontained malice.“And please, don't make me place a call to the police, should you fail to comply.”

 

Compiler Notes:

2.1 Raunip is the chief reason for most of Aughra’s stranger Loops.

2.3 In a twist of irony, it was a drunken nebrie that ended up taking first place.

2.5/2.6 Please dreamfast responsibly.

2.7 Aughra never actually ended up getting a “Welcome to the Multiverse speech. Then again, she didn’t really need one.

2.8 The songs were actually included in the original version of this Loop, but I had to remove them in the compilation. They were “March of the Wings” and “The Greatest Adventure”, respectively.

2.9 Thra is beautiful, but not exactly the safest of Loops.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Age of Resistance was released about halfway through writing this chapter.

3.1  
[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr Naia’s Awakening, part 1

The air of the Swamp of Sog was hot and humid around Naia, making her gills sticky with sweat as she shook off the fog that had settled over her mind. From her perch in the apeknot tree, she looked down across her home, trying to remember what she'd forgotten that was so important. It dangled on the tip of her memory, frustratingly out of reach. From his perch on her shoulders, her muski eel Neech gave a chitter before diving into her dreadlocks for some stability as she shifted positions so that her legs didn't grow cramped or tired.

Movement through the swap below caught her eye and Naia looked down, expecting to see a nebrie or some swamp skimmer making its way along the swamp floor. Instead, the pale form of a Vapra pushed her way southwards, along the low and murky roads that were nearly impossible to traverse. Naia's breath caught in her throat as she recognized the face of Tavra, stern soldier-daughter of Maudra Mayrin, clambering through the murk.

"I'm dreaming." she felt faint with disbelief, and while the answer rang false in her mind, it was the only one that seemed to make sense. How else could Tavra be here - whole and in her Gelfling body, instead of trapped in the form of an Arathim crystal-singer after being drained by the Skeksis? She held a hand up to her head, checking for any unusual bumps or bruising. "I've hit my head on something - oh Neech, I must be dreaming!"

Obligingly, Neech bit her lightly.

The sight of Tavra far below remained unchanged.

Trembling, Naia watched for a moment, before leaping out of the apeknot for the swamp below, trusting her wings to catch her. It was only when her feet had left the branch and she was falling through the air - too fast - that she noticed the distinct absence of her wings against her back. Instead, there was only an ache where they would bloom, and the swamp floor rushing up too quickly to meet her.

Naia crashed gracelessly through the branches and vegetation of Sog, sending shrubs and smaller animals scurrying for cover. The ground was soft, but not enough to stop the sharp spikes of pain as bones broke under the heavy landing. Groaning from the pain, she straightened herself out as best she could, and summoned a palmful of healing magic to soothe what it could.

As she moved slowly over her injuries, she looked up into the unrecognizing eyes of Tavra, hard with the promise of duty.

"Drenchen," and that stung, coming from Tavra, "I would ask to see your Maudra."

Head spinning with pain and confusion, Naia felt herself fall unconscious.

3.2

[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr Naia’s Awakening, part 2

Naia came back to herself slowly, bones aching where the fall had broken them. Wincing, she blinked her eyes open to see Tavra still looking down at her. “How long was I out?” Carefully gathering afresh her healing fire, Naia let it pour over the bones that were still broken, healing them not completely, but enough that she could stand – and fight, if need be.

Tavra pursed her lips at the casual address, and Naia was reminded again that for some unusual reason, her friend no longer knew her. “Only a few minutes.” the stern silverling replied at last. “Are all Drenchen so foolish as to make a jump like that with no wings?”

“Most aren't”. Naia's cheeks felt as if they were burning. “I...thought I could make the jump. I was mistaken.”

“I see.” Tavra let the matter fall, and reached out a hand to help Naia up. “Since you fell unconscious right after we me, I'll repeat my question. I am looking for your clan lands. I would appreciate an escort.”

Naia stood up, testing her bones gingerly to see if the healing would hold until they could get to the wreck of Great Smerth. Biting back a gasp as pain lanced through her leg, she gritted her teeth and looked at Tavra.

“You'll have to escort me, I'm afraid.” Hating how her voice grew hazy with pain, Naia pushed through it. “I can give you directions, but neither of us will get very far alone.”

Tavra jerked her chin in a curt nod. “Very well. Lead the way, Drenchen.”

“Naia.” She pointed at a nearby apeknot, and the steps carved into it. “Even injured, we'll make best time through the treetops.”

Tavra braced her shoulder under Naia's, and they began making their way back towards Great Smerth. Several times, they had to pause and let Naia rest, and heal what injuries they could, but they still made far better time than when Tavra had first come through Sog.

Although a thousand questions ran through Naia's mind from one end to the other, she didn't dare ask her silverling friend about the circumstances behind her miraculous arrival. Nor did Tavra offer any words beyond what were needed, preferring to make the journey in silence. If she had not known the other Gelfling well, Naia might have been offended. As it was, the silence was almost a comfort.

It was just past midday when they arrived at the Glenfoot, the air filled with the voices of Gelfling laughing or singing as they went about their daily tasks. As they both paused to let Naia rest again, she couldn't stop the cry of both joy and pain that fell from her lips.

Though Tavra looked askance at her, she couldn't tear her eyes away from the sight of Great Smerth whole and unburned, with no traces of the darkening sickness that plagued it. Here was the Great Smerth from her memories, as though the events of recent unum had only been a dream that she was waking from.

Tavra set her down gently against the branch of an apeknot, steadying her so that she would not fall. From under her locs, Neech unwound himself and glided to her knees, chattering anxiously at the tears that spilled from her eyes.  
“My home... it's whole.”

Tavra looked at he sharply. “Should it not be?”

“No.” It should be many things. Whole was not one of them. “I confess, there are many things I have been confused about since I first saw you today.” Naia admitted. She held out a hand for Tavra to take. “I cannot make sense of any of it, and would appreciate the aid.”

Though reluctant, Tavra accepted her hand, and Naia let the dreamfast flow. Taking care not to dip unduly into the Vapra's memories, she thought back to the first time that she had met Tavra, on a mission from Maudra Mayrin to find Gurjin, accused of treachery by the Skeksis.

She felt as Tavra slowly traced the course of the memory through her mind, before turning to other things. The darkened nebrie, trying to find the truth about Gurjin. The horrible sight of the Crystal, cracked and bleeding its pain across Thra. Tavra being drained by the Skeksis, and turned into a puppet host for the Skeksis's crystal-singer lackeys.

Tavra's breath caught in her throat as Naia remembered when they had learned the truth, and Kylan had stitched her soul to the body of the spider, leaving the Arathim to die in the silverling's body. But she did not pull her hand away, and merely watched the rest of the events unfold. Through Naia's eyes, she watched the seven fires of resistance blaze into life. As she watched again the lighting of the Drenchen fire, Naia spoke into the dreamfast.

I watched my home die. I came here expecting nothing else. Now Smerth is whole, and I do not know why.

Tavra sighed, and finally released Naia's hand. Wearily, the Vapra looked over at her. “I would say that you had seen a Far-Dream. But as I can see, you have seen Far-Dreams before, and we both know that this is not what that is.”

Tavra laid a hand on her shoulder. “I cannot tell you what is going on, for of your dreamfast, I can only say that your brother was only recently accused, and that is the purpose of my visit. Nothing else you have seen has happened yet.”

Naia couldn't help but look at Tavra. “None of it?”

The idea seemed almost to large to hold. None of what she had lived had come to pass yet, all of the joy and the horror of the coming days were laid out ahead of her, all of it a tension that was waiting to happen. A thought occurred to Naia, and she pushed herself upright, ignoring Neech's squalls of protest at being dislodged.

Tavra moved to brace against her shoulder, and Naia leaned into it gratefully. Slowly, they made their way through the Glenfoot and into Great Smerth, past the eyes of curious Drenchen. Naia waved off their concerns as best she could, focusing only on getting into the tree.

Even here, she saw evidence that Tavra had spoken the truth to her. Though she saw the familiar faces of her clan-mates, they were the only ones present. She had grown accustomed to seeing the faces of other Gelfling, and the difference now was startling.

They made their way up the Stone's Way, deep into the heartwood. As they neared the Maudra's chambers, Naia's heart hammered, unsure of what she would find – or what she wanted to. Outside the door, she pushed off of Tavra's shoulders unsteadily, and took a deep breath.

She would never be ready for this. But she had to make the journey regardless.

Pushing through the curtain, her breath caught in her throat. Ignoring Neech as he pushed off of her shoulders and wove himself through Eliona's locs, her eyes found themselves fixed on the laughing, living form of her mother.

All at once, her emotions crashed upon her, the weight of what was to come bearing down on her like a behemoth. Though her bones protested, Naia found herself running, and burying her face into her mother's chest.

3.3

[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr Naia’s Awakening, part 3

Naia gave a short sigh, looking up at Aughra's observatory, where the Voice of Thra herself lay ensconced. Out of all of her companions, she alone recalled completely the events that had yet to happen. It had hurt each time she had met them, and had been faced with the knowledge that none of them knew her, or the bonds that they had forged.

Both Kylan and Tavra had stung, their long friendships vanishing before her eyes. But to look on her brother's face, her mirror, and see no flicker of recognition within his heart had nearly made her broken once more. Until they had been thrust apart by circumstances, they had shared all of their experiences. Even when their paths diverged and became rocky, when their bonds were tested by the trials before them, they had overcome those obstacles and been stronger for it.

But when she had seen him in the Castle's tower, face wan and weak from lack of food and life, she had been faced by the knowledge that he could not remember what had happened. This was her brother, though not the one who had stood by her side as they lit the fires of resistance, who had awakened his gift of healing magic to save her life. Who had learned the value of caution and careful thought.

It was not hopeless, though. Armed with knowledge of the truth of the Skeksis, they had declined to follow the same path as before that had gotten Tavra captured and set skekMal on their trail. Instead, they had climbed the Castle walls and gone in through a window, vanishing with Gurjin and leaving the Skeksis angry and confused.

And now here they were, four together standing outside the home of Aughra. She had guided them before. Surely, she could do so again.

Naia reached out, stroking the finger vines that draped across the entrance to the tunnel. Obligingly, the vines drew back without snapping and let the Gelfling pass.

Kylan came up beside her in the dark, a serious expression on his face. “Do you think Aughra will have any answers?”

Naia nodded. “At the very least, she can tell us if our past course of action is still wise. No matter what has happened to me, the fires of resistance still need to be lit. The Skeksis still need to be stopped, and we need to get the shard.” She felt her lips quirk. “It's all of the rest that I'm lost on.”

Her friend's eyes softened. “If it helps, I feel lost all of the time.” He made a halfhearted gesture before letting his hands drop. “Every time I remember your dreamfast of what I will do, I wonder how I can possibly live up to that.” Kylan gave a sigh. “He is a hero. I... I am not.”

Naia grasped his shoulder. “I see no difference between the Kylan before me, and the Kylan I remember. It takes time for us to find ourselves. I have seen you do so once. I know you will do so again.”

“If it helps,” Gurjin piped up from the back where he stood with Tavra, “I still have a hard time believing that I can heal. And it's something I can actually do in the here and now, not just in Naia's memory.” As a demonstration, his hands lit with blue fire, illuminating the walls slightly.

Kylan laughed, and tugged on one of his braids ruefully. “You haven't let us forget, but thank you.”

The door slid open ahead of them, disgorging them into the observatory proper. For the most part, it was how Naia had remembered it, with the great wheel of the stars turning overhead in a dizzying display. As she looked more closely though, she noticed the great heaps of paper and writing that crowded the room, save for a small table in the centre that had been set with food and mugs of fresh ta.

“Aughra?”

Kylan called into the observatory, looking like he wanted to examine all of the documents that Aughra had strewn all around the room. “Mother Aughra?”

“What?”

All of the Gelfling whirled around, finding that Aughra had snuck up on them in their distraction. Her one eye roved over them, though what she was looking for, Naia had no idea.

“Hmmmm.” Aughra gave a long groan. “What's changed, then? Something. Ugh.” Almost sounding annoyed, Aughra pointed to the table. “You Gelfling. Get something to eat, hm? Then we'll get answers.”

The others looked over at her, and then back at the table. “I'm afraid we have no time, Mother Aughra. If Naia's memories are to be believed, then we are on a very tight schedule.”

“Memories?” Aughra's eye widened. “Memories, Gelfling?”

She rushed over to Naia – properly rushing and not just a rapid shuffle, and Naia stepped back in alarm. “Yes, Mother Aughra. For some reason, I have remember events that have yet to happen as if they already have. It's as if I've been pulled from the future and been put in the past. It's what we wanted to ask you about.”

Aughra started cackling with a sort of mad joy. Naia looked at the others, their confusion as clear as her own and shrugged. She knew no more than they about what was going on.

“Awake!” Aughra crowed triumphantly. “Good!”

Again, she pointed to the table. “Come, Gelfling. There is much for you to learn.” She quirked her mouth at some secret joke. “And we now have nothing but time.”

Aughra sat down on the floor, beckoning the Gelfling to join her. “You have spoken to the Staba-Trees, yes? Olyeka-Staba and Smerth-Staba and Vliste-Staba, and others.”

Naia nodded, uncertain where this was going.

“And you know that we are only one world in this uni-verse, that there are others out there as strange and wonderful and different from each other as one Gelfling is from another.”

Again, she nodded. This was nothing she did not already know, and why Aughra was bringing it up was beyond her. “Yes, Mother Aughra. I know.”

“Our uni-verse is like those worlds. One among many others, each vast and different from each other. And each of those uni-verses is a branch on the trunk of a vast tree, Yggdrasil-Staba.”

The image that Aughra painted reminded Naia of Great Smerth, as it had been when she was a girl. A great tree, its branches stretching to endless horizons and cradling all worlds in its branches. The idea of that vast heartwood cradling and protecting her was immensely soothing. Looking around, she could see the others also nodding in understanding at the words.

Aughra then gave a great sigh. “Something has corrupted it. Nearly destroyed it completely.”

The world felt as if it had been pulled out from under her, and for a moment, Naia feared that it had. No one else looked any better. Kylan and Gurjin both looked as if they had been struck, and Tavra's pale skin had gone almost white.

Her mind pulled up pictures of Great Smerth as she had left it in that once-future. Darkened, dying, bark peeling in sheets, branches snapped off and scorched by great fires. That great tree, her home-wood destroyed by the wound in the world. “What do we do?”

There had to be something. Aughra couldn't expect them to sit here and do nothing, not when so much was at stake.

“You're already doing something, child.” Aughra's voice was oddly soft, a gentle smile on her wizened face. “Yggdrasil-Staba is in better hands than ours, who know how to prune and mend, and train new growth. Part of that mending, that healing, means that our songs repeat. Our song, our uni-verse turns in circles, sung from the beginning over again.”

Her lips quirked. “We aren't the first song to be sung over. In fact, we're one of the newest. Sometimes, the wind blows and branches touch. Voices join in harmonies, from disparate songs. So these uni-verses come together, and we travel. To other worlds, songs so distant and different, you'd think we had nothing in common. Sometimes, they come here.”

Naia's head reeled. “If our song is being sung over again,” she turned the thought about in her head. “Then why do I remember? Why do you? Shouldn't we not remember?”  
Aughra cackled. “Just as Thra needs its menders, so to does Yggdrasil-Staba. That's why I remember. And you. We're the menders – the Loopers. We remember the cycles of the song, when the rest of the world drifts by.”

The Voice of Thra stood up. “There's more to tell, but most of the words take too long to explain.” She pointed to the ta. “Let's eat, and you be on your way. We can talk more when those fires have been lit.” Her eye narrowed. “Focus first on Thra's mending. Then I can tell you about our duties as Loopers.”

3.4

[Dark Crystal] | dragonraptyr

When Naia woke, she did not find herself in Sog, up high in the apeknot trees looking down at Tavra. She had become accustomed to the transition, and despite Aughra's warning that she would wake in unfamiliar times and places, it was jarring to find that comfortable point of familiarity would not always be there.

Taking a deep breath, she took stock of her situation. Though it was not Sog, she was still in a swamp and one not too far from Aughra's observatory at that. The idea that she could drop in on Aughra and ask her for advice was a pleasant one.

Though the terrain was familiar enough, nothing else was. Cautiously, she tried stretching her wings. It was something she had kept in mind to always check, ever since that disastrous first step Loops ago. They rustled and lay flat against her back, one less thing to worry about.

The swamp around her was dark and silent, quieter than she had ever known it to be. Life went on, but it was cautious and afraid, ready to bite or snap at the first sign of a threat. Making certain that there was nothing in the area that could do her harm – she had seen Blue Mouths in these woods before – she steeled herself and dove into her memories.

When Naia had first met the Mystic urSu, he had told her the truth of his dual nature. She had thought then, about what it would be like to look into her own face, knowing that it was the best or worst side of her looking back.

This was as alike to that long-ago conversation as she had ever known. She could no more draw a line between the Naia of now, and the Naia of her memories than urSu could declare that he was not responsible for skekSo's actions. It might make her feel better, but it would not be true.

Nevertheless, it was as if she was getting to know herself all over again, finding pieces of herself that she hadn't known existed before but that had always been present, waiting for something to draw them out.

Knowing this did nothing to dull the deep cutting pain of the memories.

She was a child again, chasing Gurjin around Pemma's cradle while Eliona watched from her father's knee. Her mother was nearby, preparing dinner. It should have been a happy scene. But she could see her the strain on her father's face, how her mother's smile did not quite reach her eyes.

Suddenly, her father stood, shooing Eliona over to herself and Gurjin, ears twisting at the ready. Her child-self had not understood, and though she tried to listen, she could not hear whatever sound had startled her father.  
A massive claw crushed the wall like they were made of soft mud, offering no resistance to the terrible creature lurking outside.

Whatever had happened next, she could not clearly recall. Bits and pieces swam in her mind, each glittering and terrible. Her father, caught and crumpled in a hand bigger than he was as he tried to ram his spear into the beast. Her mother, pulling Pemma from the crib and calling desperately to her siblings.

They ran. Away from the monsters, from the wreck of their home, into the night. In the darkness, more of the monstrous creatures loomed, eyes gleaming with the light of the Dark Crystal. It was all her child feet could do to keep up with her mother, hand clasped in Gurjin's and heart rattling with fear.

One of the creatures loomed from the mist, snatching Eliona away from them and stuffing her into a little basket on its back. Other Gelfling in various states of intactness and consciousness lay inside. It was the last time she had seen her sister.

Laesid led them to a deep pond. Her hand had clasped both hers and Gurjin's for a moment, dreamfasting a single idea to them. Dive deep, it had been. Dive deep and hide where they cannot reach you. Then she had thrust them both into the water, Pemma in their arms. They were barely out of sight of the monsters when her mother had been run through from behind, her blood staining the water.

There was no time to mourn. Only to press herself into the mud as low as she could and hope they did not see.

Even from under the water, she could hear the screams.

She and Gurjin had waited like that for hours, praying that the creatures would not search the water. They were not to be so lucky. A Skeksis stood on the bank of the pond, and pointed to its depths. Obediently, one of the creatures had waded in, submerged up to its head, and dragged its claws around.

One minute, her brother was by her side. The next, he was gone, hauled out of the water by the monster, and Pemma with him.

The Skeksis had clucked its tongue, crushing her sister casually in its grip. It had given Gurjin little more thought before tearing him in two and leaving his body to settle to the bottom of the pond.

Naia pulled herself from her memories, unwilling to see more.

She huddled into a small ball, mourning the loss of her family, of her mother and father, her sisters and Gurjin all murdered by the cruelty of the Skeksis.

She was alone, in a way that she had never been before. Even as she thought it, she knew it was true. She was alone, the last Gelfling on all of Thra. A deep pain settled in the back of her breast, one that might never truly heal. Was it always fated to be this way? That the Gelfling were exterminated by the Skeksis in spite of all that they had done to prevent it?

A sound caught her ears, pulling her from her sorrow.

For a moment, she thought that Rian was standing there in the clearing, the Stonewood looking at her in no small surprise. Then she looked again, and though he looked similar, he was not the same. His face was sturdier, his ears smaller, and his brown-and-blue hair was streaked through with silver.

He looked as surprised as she did to see him. “You're not Kira.” He remarked.

Naia dried her tears, trying to lock away her sorrow and focus on what was at hand. “No. My name is Naia.” She frowned. “You're Looping, aren't you?”

He nodded, face lighting up. “You too? Is this your first time on Thra?”

Naia gave a squawk of surprise at his question. “My...first...?” she stammered, unsure how to react to such a question. “I was born here!”

She watched as shock, and then joy spread across his face. “You're a Gelfling? From here? This Loop?”

She nodded, unsure of where he was going with this. “Yes.”

He looked like he wanted to dance for joy at her words. “Right. We need to get somewhere out of the open before the Crystal Bats find us. They're usually combing this area pretty thoroughly. Did you check your Loop memories?”

Naia pursed her lips. “I sort of didn't get past my whole family being murdered.”

He looked like he didn't quite know how to reply to that, taken off guard by her hard-talk. “Right.” he answered at last. “Well, Kira -she's our other Looper, you're replacing her right now – she was raised by Podlings after her parents died. Normally, we'd go to her village since its nearby, but it's probably safer if we head for the Houses of the Old Ones instead.”

Naia nodded, jerking her chin in agreement. “You know better than I do.”

Together, they headed for the bank of the Black River, scanning the sky for any sign of the Crystal Bats. Now that she tried to remember them, she found the information coming easily, and free of any pain. The idea of the Skeksis watching over everything and tracking down any Gelfling that they could find was alarming, and a memory she made sure to keep to tell the others.

She had to laugh at his name when he mentioned it. “It's Jen? Really?”

He looked confused. “Is there something I'm missing?”

She gave a sigh. “Gelfling legends tell of an ancient hero, lightning-born, named Jarra-Jen. Sometimes, it's shortened to just Jen.” She rolled her eyes at him. “So expect to get eaten by a giant fizzgig at some point.”

Jen made a face. “Wonderful. I can't wait.” He frowned for a moment. “Speaking of fizzgig,” he gave a low chirruping call. “Kira has a pet fizzgig. In all of the confusion, I nearly forgot him.”

“Oh?” Naia thought to try and call for Neech, in case he had replaced this fizzgig, but her concerns were unfounded as a rampaging ball of fur rolled out of the grass and plunked himself on her feet, barking madly. “What's his name?”  
Jen smiled. “Fizzgig.”

Naia's ears twisted. “A fizzgig named...Fizzgig?”

“Exactly.”

Naia gave a sigh, and scooped the furball into her arms, resting him on her shoulder where Neech would normally sit.

They reached the banks of the Black River, and upended one of the loose shells on the bank to serve as a boat. Jen climbed in, and Naia pushed off from the bank. For the most part, they could let the river do the work, giving them both time to talk.

“You're from the past, right? Before my time?”

Naia nodded at him, lazily plying a rafting pole to guide their boat. “You have a good guess.”

“It's not a guess.” Jen admitted. “You hadn't heard of me, so you must have been from the past.” he leaned back in the boat, looking up at the clouds overhead. “Kira and I mend the crystal, so we end up becoming the new leaders of Thra.”

Naia's heart sank at his words. Rian and her brother usually tried to sneak into the Castle to heal the Crystal at the end of her part in the Loops, and to know their efforts were wasted was disheartening. But she kept her voice light anyway, trying to chase away any fears. “I can't imagine leading all of Thra.” she remarked. “I can barely lead my own clan some days. Never mind a whole world.”

He grinned at the thought, and scanned the sky again, before offering her his hand. “We should be safe enough to dreamfast, if you want. That way you can see for yourself what is probably in store for us.” He shrugged his shoulders. “And I know very little about the Gelfling, so I wouldn't mind seeing your memories either.”

She nodded, and took his hand in hers. She had dreamfasted with Gelfling before. This was not like that. She had also dreamfasted with trees, ancient creatures, and even a Mystic. It was those minds that she was reminded of now.

Instead of their two minds becoming one, he held back, creating a divide between their minds that she would have to cross. Even when he spoke mentally, it seemed to come from far away. “Kira was overwhelmed once, when she dreamfasted with an older Looper. I wasn't sure if the same could happen to you.”

She sent him her acceptance of his statement, and her thanks. Bearing that in mind, she drew back to the edge of her own mind, waiting on the precipice of their minds. Gently, he drew closer, until the wide gap had narrowed to a sliver, and she was able to peer inside.

It was not the familiar intimacy of a normal Gelfling dreamfast, but something far larger. Again, she thought of the Swimmer urSan, and the cosmos that had been the Mystic's mind. Jen's consciousness lay over the dreamspace like a cloak, drifting around her. For the most part, it was empty of memories, all of them locked away where she could not reach.

Instead, Jen had to bring her the memories, one at a time, for her to see them. He let her see the death of his family, and adoption by the Mystics. Let her see the events that had transpired in his first lifetime, and his quest to heal the Crystal. Only briefly, he showed her the events of his life past that.

When he entered her mind, she became aware of how her own mind had changed. The same curtains and partitions that had shrouded Jen's mind were now present in hers. Pondering it for a moment, she offered him her memories of her adventures, and her quest.

When they had finished, he drew back, and let go of her hand. He gave a long sigh, and stretched back. “There were so many stories.” He murmured, so quietly that Naia nearly missed it. “Little things, Naia, that you take as truths, that I have never known.”

“You'll know them sooner or later.” She pointed out. “And then you will know them as well as I do.”

Jen hummed for a moment, and then pulled out a familiar firca. Naia's ears swivelled forwards, heart torn with both joy and sorrow. “Jen, that firca. How did you get it?”

He looked at the instrument in surprise. “I'm not sure. Maybe the Mystics gave it to me. Maybe it was my family.” he shrugged. “I don't think that I'll ever know for sure. Why? Is it special?”

Naia chuckled wistfully. “You remember my dreamfast? When my friend Kylan carved a firca from a Bell-Bird bone and dreamstitched the warning to the Gelfling on the petals? When he called out to the Crystal Shard, and it answered?”

Jen looked down at the firca in shock. “It's this firca?” He asked in disbelief. “I had no idea it was so special!” He cradled it softly in his hands. “There's so much history in it!”

“It ties us together.” Naia found her voice growing soft. “Across time, and so many trine. We're part of the same song, you and I. Though without the Loops, we would have never met. Our dreams are still connected.”

Jen looked up at her, a serious expression on his face. “I am honoured, Naia, to be a small part of your song.”

“And I, yours.”

3.5

[Dark Crystal]

Aughra sat on the mountain that would one day become the Castle of the Crystal. She had brought lunch with her, and Raunip hovered nearby, watching the suns through a darkened piece of glass.

"Are you sure that the suns are going to line up, mother?" He asked, voice confused.

Aughra gave a nod. "The Great Conjunction. Three suns lined up. It always means great change for Thra. Hard to say what will happen during it. Most of the time it's the same, but sometimes different."

"Ah." Raunip did not look convinced, his tail lashing anxiously. He held the glass up to his eye again, peering through it. "You're certain you said line up, right?"

Aughra narrowed her eyes. "Yes. Why?"

He pointed to the heavens, and Aughra looked upwards. "Because it looks as though they're about to crash."

Aughra looked up, and swore.

Raunip was right. Overhead, the three brother suns had pulled themselves into a death-dance, spinning heedlessly to their own destruction. They spun trails of spitting flame behind them, the Great Sun greedily drinking in the light of the Rose and Dying Suns, growing to immense size. The air burned, and the world grew impossibly bright.

In the moments before the Loop ended, Raunip looked at his mother. "I guess you'd call this the Great Collision?" 

3.6  
[Dark Crystal] [Avatar: Last Airbender]

Sokka stretched back on the small rocky beach, burrowing into Appa's fur. The sunlight was still watery and weak this far south, but the weather was clear and not too chilly. All in all, it was as close to a perfectly peaceful day as he could think of.

A stream of seawater whacked him in the face, and he slightly revised his statement. It would be perfect, aside from the troubles that their visiting Looper was having with her bending. He grumbled for a moment, and then shifted to the other side of Appa's paws, further out of splashing range.

When the second whip of seawater went sailing over his head and soaked the sky bison, the anchor of the elemental nations gave a sigh, and resigned himself to a not-so-peaceful day.

“Are you sure you didn't want me to give you a copy of Katara's notes?” he asked.

“No.” Naia looked over at him from the rocky tidepools. “The waterbending isn't that hard. It's ... something else that I'm having trouble with.” To demonstrate, she moved through a kata, moving the tide gracefully into a wave. She dropped her hand with a heavy sigh. “It's... You've been through far many more loops than I have. How do you deal with growing apart from your family? From going down a path that they can't follow?”

She sat down on a rock, staring out at the ocean. “For so long, my brother and I were the same. Halves of each other. Then we started growing apart, and experiencing new things. We learned to deal with it, but the more I loop, the more I worry that one day, I'll wake up, and all my brother will see is a stranger wearing his sister's face. Even if I show him the truth, that divide will still be there.”

Sokka sighed, and sat next to her. “Looping for so long, it does have a bad habit of wrecking your relationships with your family if you aren't careful. We lose the attachments we had with them, and end up connecting pretty strongly to our fellow Loopers.”

He picked up a stone, running it through his hands before tossing it in the water. “There's no good answer, and everyone has a different way of dealing with it. I'm still not sure I've got it figured out, honestly. A lot of Loopers end up hiding the truth from their family. It hurts them less.”

“Gelfling can share our memories. It's part of who we are.” Naia kneaded her fingers through the air, practising pushing and pulling the sea. “I couldn't keep the Loops from him if I tried. He'd know if I was lying, and Drenchen prefer honesty and straightforwardness anyway.

Sokka hummed for a moment. “You should talk to him about it, instead of another Looper. Maybe he's got an answer that you didn't think of. And besides, this is something that he deserves to know that you're worried about.”

He smiled. “Trust your brother. I bet he's stronger than you think.” 

3.7

[Dark Crystal]

Jen shuddered into wakefulness, yawning as he stretched his muscles, feeling old bones pop and flex under the weight of age. Beside him, still locked in dreamfast, he could feel Kira's mind swim from ancient Gelfling to truly ancient Looper, her thoughts shifting and expanding. Gently, he let go of her hand, surreptitiously brushing aside a part of the curtain in front of him to peer down at the gathering of Gelfling below.

Kira gave a low snort. “They've blocked it up again.” She murmured softly, so that the guards below would not hear. She gave a Ping, and Jen echoed it a moment later. She stroked Fizzgig's belly, looking down at the congregation. “At least it's easy to fix, now.”

Jen smiled wryly. “Yes, when 'his crystalline eminence' and the captain of the guard don't get in the way.” He kicked his feet a little to get some feeling back into them. “Time to get to work, my love.”

The Crystal gave a deep moan of pain before them, its light flickering. Kira sighed, and reached for the curtain pull. “We always must.”

Light flooded their booth as Jen stood up, ignoring the gasps of surprise from the Gelfling below. The room was nearly empty, with a few acolytes skirting around the edges.

The Crystalline Eminence, a short Gelfling with delusions of grandeur and glory, gasped when he saw them. “My lord, my lady! I apologize for our disturbing your slumber. Please, go back to sleep. We have everything well in hand here. I promise, you want for nothing!”

From Kira's arms, Fizzgig set up a rattling cacophony of barking. Kira let it peter out, before looking at the Gelfling before her. “We aren't planning on going back to sleep.” She said dryly. “We have spent many trine dreaming. And honestly? We're starting to go a bit stir-crazy from dreaming so much.”

“We aren't Aughra.” Jen smiled. “We can't spend so much time asleep while our minds wander.”

The Crystalline Eminence looked like he'd bitten an unripe alfen fruit. “Ah. I see.” He shuffled for a moment. “I'm afraid we aren't prepared for your return. If you'll give me until after the ceremony, I'm certain that we can work things out.”

“Cancel the ceremony.” Jen ordered. His ears flicked at the old Gelfling's shocked expression.

“My lord!” The Crystalline Eminence looked scandalized. “If we cancel the ceremony, there will be no offerings for the Crystal! It will be utter chaos!”

“The Crystal will be fine without offerings.” Jen said gently as he could. “When the Crystal was mended, I had no offering to give.” He squeezed Kira's hand. “Kira was still returned to me.”

“But you mended the Crystal!” The Crystalline Eminence refused to be swayed. “Surely that was not your offering?”

“That was my duty.” Jen corrected. “The duty of any Gelfling. It was not an offering. Even before the Crystal was cracked, it did not need our offerings. We went for thousands of trine without needing to give the Crystal anything. That has not changed.”

The Crystalline Eminence looked as if he'd been struck. “Guards!”

Jen smiled, refraining from the urge to roll his eyes. Beside him, Kira tried and partly failed to conceal a fit of the giggles. A pair of young guards walked in, looking at Jen and Kira in awe. The Crystalline Eminence turned to them. “Please escort the great ones to the healer's wing. They have been asleep for a very long time, and it seems to have damaged their minds.”

“Ah, your grace?” One of the guards asked uncertainly. “Are you sure? I mean, it is the lords-”

“They're spouting heresies!” The Crystalline Eminence proclaimed. “Surely, their minds must be infected with something!” He blinked suddenly, a thought clearly occurring to him. “Tell all Gelfling not to dreamfast until we get to the bottom of this! It might be a plague!”

The Crystalline Eminence scurried away, muttering to himself. The guards looked at each other, and then at Jen and Kira. “Sir? Ma'am?” One of them asked. “What is going on?”

“Are you really ill?” His partner asked anxiously.

“No.” Kira was still giggling. “We're fine. Someone-” She shot a look at the Crystalline Eminence, “Does not want to hear something that isn't in his worldview.” She patted the anxious guard on the shoulder. “Come. There's a lot to do.”

“Yes, my lords!” The guards stamped their spears on the ground. “We await your orders!”

Jen gave a sigh, and smiled. “We were born from the Crystal's light, and it gives it to us freely. But the more we covet that light, the more we pour the darkness in our hearts into the Crystal.”

Kira stroked Fizzgig, the ancient furball purring in her arms. “Instruct the acolytes to only allow petitioners who urgently and honestly need the Crystal's light to pass, and that they do not owe any offerings. After the Rose noon, round up as many Gelfling as you can, and see about clearing the offerings out of the shaft. Put them in a storage room for the time being, until we can decide on the best course of action.”

“We are also expecting a visitor from one of the far-flung clans.” Jen added. “A Fireling, of the U-mun clan. We have seen her approach in the Dreamfast, and her need is urgent. When she arrives, see that she is brought right to us.”

The guards saluted, and hurried off. “That's most of it taken care of.” Jen smiled, pulling Kira into a hug. “What do you say after this is taken care of, we leave Kensho in charge, and go on a vacation? Really get out and see Thra?”

“I think,” Kira leaned up and kissed his cheek, “That sounds lovely.” 

3.8

[Dark Crystal]

Naia's heart thumped as she crept through the halls of the Castle of the Crystal, one hand hovering near a water-skin she'd filled from the moat. Beside her, Kylan's ears swivelled to and fro, flicking anxiously at every sound.

“Are you certain that we're going the right way?” He asked quietly. “All of these corridors look the same.”

“Mostly.” She kept her voice low. “Every so often, something will change. But it looks the same, here.”

“Right.” Kylan sighed. “It's just, the memories you've showed me. They don't add up. You've seen things happen one way, but I think they happened differently here.”

“It happens, sometimes.” Naia admitted, peering down a junction to where a guard was patrolling. She snaked a tiny fragment of water out and froze it to ice. Carefully, she guided it through the air, before sending it down a stairwell with a sharp plink as the ice shard bounced down the steps. She watched the guard leave, and turned to her friend. “Things are usually the same. But not always. So we improvise.”

“Oh. Good.” Kylan sucked in his breath, and Naia gestured to him to follow her. It was harder to creep around the Castle with so many guards – watchful ones, that hadn't yet been drained – but she'd done this many times now. At least there were no Garthim.

She reached the room where they locked Gurjin, and carefully pried open the door. An empty room looked back at her, and she groaned softly. “Right. Time to improvise.”

“So something is different.” Kylan murmured at her shoulder. “Wonderful.”

Naia shrugged. “My memories are not a map of the future. It's more like a far-dream.” She turned and left the room. “I can no more know what the future will hold than you.” She gave him a smile. “I only know what other pasts held.”

“Fair enough.” Kylan allowed. “Any ideas on where Gurjin is?”

Naia's ears flicked as she considered it. “Probably in the Scientist's lab. If they aren't openly draining anyone yet, then they'll want him somewhere out of the way.” She stroked a hand over her water-skin. “It's a bad idea to rush in. But if we get cornered, I can buy us enough time to get out.”

“Well then, lead the way.” Kylan gave a playful bow. “Oh fierce Naia.”

3.9

[Dark Crystal]

Rian blinked as the trees and moss of the Dark Wood swam before his eyes, resolving into the familiar corridors of the Castle of the Crystal. A sword hung at his side, and his ears were pinned to the sides of his head by his helmet.

“I'm dreaming?” Pulling off his helmet, he flicked his ears back and forth, trying to hear if Mother Aughra had pulled him into the Dream Space again for some reason. But if it was Dream Space, shouldn't he be at the Crystal? And wasn't there fog on the ground last time as well?

The squeak of unoiled wheels filled the corridor, and Rian pressed himself against the wall. It...might be Mother Aughra? Hopefully? It was better than the alternative – that he had become infected by the Darkening and was hallucinating.

It was not Aughra. It was the podling servants who always brought the food for the Skeksis. They pushed the cart along, until the older of the two caught sight of him hiding by the wall. “Rian!”

So he wasn't dreaming. A hallucination it was, then. His heart hammered in his chest. Who knows what sort of nightmares – or dreams – the Darkening would show him? He licked his lips, suddenly gone dry, and nodded to the pair. “Hello.”

He was probably talking to a rock. Or a tree. Or a patch of Gobbles. Come to think of it, wandering around was a terrible idea.

The Podlings dashed in front of the cart, raising their hands as if to protect it. Rian ignored them, focusing instead on breathing slowly and deliberately, waiting to see if the vision passed. When he did not move from his spot, the younger of the two Podlings came over and looked up at him, her face concerned. “Rian, Tompee?

“I think I'm sick.” Breathe. In and out. Were visions supposed to be so real? So solid? He could swear that he could actually smell the food on the cart. “I'm hallucinating.”

The podling looked at him, worry on her face. Turning over her shoulder, she yelled something to her companion. He gave a nod, and steered the cart around Rian. The Podling tugged on his cloak – how had he not noticed he was wearing it? - until he was sitting on the ground.

A clatter of boots filled the hallway, and both he and the Podling woman looked up as Mira entered the corridor. Rian's steady breaths caught suddenly in his throat. She looked whole and healthy, as if she had never been drained by the Skeksis. Tears began streaming down his face, and Mira's cheerful expression turned dim.

“Rian?” She ran over to him, falling to her knees. “What's wrong? Why are you crying? Are you alright?” She pressed a hand to his forehead. It was probably just a leaf, but he found himself leaning into her touch anyway. “You don't feel warm.”

“Don't leave me again.” Rian mumbled the words, pulling her into a hug. Vision or not, dream or not, all he wanted to do was hold her until she faded away, stolen from him like before. “I lost you once, don't leave me alone again.”

Mira wrapped an arm around him. “What are you talking about?” She looked at the Podling woman. “Do you have any idea?”

The Podling shook her head. “Ne. Rian, say sick.” the short woman thought for a moment. “Ha-looci nait, say”. She sounded out the Gelfling words very slowly.

Mira ran a hand down Rian's back. It was much softer than a tree branch. Maybe it was really a tongue. “Oh, Rian.” her voice sounded so sad. “What are you seeing, right now?”

He couldn't bring himself not to tell her. “You.” He gave a sigh. “I missed you so badly, after the Skeksis killed you. I-”

“Rian!” Mira cut him off. “I'm not dead!”

“You are!” he shouted back. “I saw them kill you, drain your essence! I watched as those monsters murdered you right in front of me!”

Mira looked at him in disbelief, and then held up a hand. “Then show me.”

He looked at her in sorrow. “Mira, you're dead, and I'm crazy. I'm probably sitting in the woods right now, rambling at a stump!”

She took his hand and pressed it to hers, though she did not begin a dreamfast. “Then prove it! To me, to yourself, to all of Thra! Show me, Rian.”

Rian looked at his hand, pressed against hers, and then back up at her. She smiled at him, tears in her eyes. “If you are mad,” she said at last, “then what do you have to lose?”

He shuddered, and then opened his mind, letting himself fall into a dreamfast. There should have been an abyss waiting for him, an endless void ready to swallow him whole. Instead, there was only Mira. Warm and solid and real, her mind pressed against his, the two melded into one.

Somehow, impossiby, this was real. From outside the dreamfast, he could feel tears starting to pour down his cheeks. Taking a deep breath, he conjured for Mira his memory of her death, and of the events that followed.

When he was done, he pulled himself from the dreamfast, and looked up at Mira. Her cheeks were as wet as his, and she wordlessly pulled him into a tight hug. “What do we do now?” she whispered in his ear.

He sighed, feeling his chest rise and fall with hers. “Warn the Clans. Find the Dual Glaive. Stop the Skeksis.” He nestled in a bit closer. “They won't stop, just because we know.”

She gave him a peck on the cheek. “We'll face them together.”

They sat like that for a moment, until a startled gasp pulled them both back to reality. The Podling woman was looking up in fear at a massive Skeksis, and Rian felt his heart sink like a stone at the sight of SkekMal standing above them. His mask was missing and he wore a feathered cloak, but there was no mistaking him.

“Touching.” The Hunter sneered. “Two traitors share a last embrace before they die.”

Rian pushed himself upright. “Hunter.” He glared at the Skeksis. “Come to kill us, have you?”

SkekMal only laughed, and Rian grabbed at Mira's hand for a moment. Shoving away his other thoughts, he focused only on words. “Go. I'll buy you time.”

“Rian, no!” Mira's voice echoed through his mind. “You can't stop him alone!”

Rian smiled at her. “Live.” He let go of her hand, and drew his sword. “Come on then!” He yelled at the Hunter. “Let's see if the great lord of the Crystal SkekMal the Hunter can kill one Gelfling!”

SkekMal drew two of his swords in response. “As you wish.” He glowered at Rian. “I will give you the mercy of a swift death.”

Rian didn't stop to look back at Mira. Instead, he leveled his blade at the Hunter, stepping swiftly inside the Skeksis guard to cut at his side. SkekMal didn't even look at he parried the blow, and Rian stepped back, waiting for the counterattack.

He didn't have to wait for long. SkekMal brought all of his weight down to bear with both blades, reinforcing the strikes with his second set of arms. Rian fell to his knees before shoving himself away to give himself some distance.

He chanced a look back, and saw Mira still frozen where she stood. “Go!” He shouted. “Now!”

Mira finally came unfrozen, and grabbed the Podling woman in her arms. She unfurled her wings and bolted for the nearby window. It only took two flicks of her wings to carry her aloft and out of sight.

Rian gave a sigh of relief, and then shuddered in pain as the Hunter's blade hit its mark. Turning, he looked back at the Skeksis.

“You shouldn't have dropped your guard.” SkekMal wore an ugly grin on his beak.

Rian opened his mouth to say something, and then his vision swam, and he found himself falling forwards.

He had barely enough time to catch sight of a shining Crystal and a Gelfling made of fire before blackness claimed him. 

Compiler Notes:

3.1 Look before you leap. And make sure you can fly first.

3.4 Everyone's dead, Naia.

3.5 Aughra check your suns, please.

3.6 Sokka is a good brother.

3.7Jen and Kira are old and won't put up with your nonsense.

3.9 End, begin. All the same


	4. Crisis On Infinite Loops, Part 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is part of a larger event in the Infinite Loops continuity known as the Crisis on Infinite Loops. A virus known as the Le-Eyo virus, which can force any entity in the multiverse to awaken, was set to awaken Dolores Umbridge, whom it was unilaterally agreed could not be alloweed to Loop. When she was killed, this virus was unleashed on the Loops. For more information, please visit The Infinite Loops at Spacebattles (https://forums.spacebattles.com/threads/infinite-loops-miscellaneous-section-catch-3x3.450936/). (The Crisis begins on page 555)

Aughra gave an annoyed groan as she Awoke, later than usual with her mind wandering the stars. Giving a cough to get rid of any lingering dust, she stretched her legs, kicking them to regain a bit of feeling.

Once she could walk without keeling over, she walked over to her food supplies, rummaging around for a pot and a mug to make herself some tea. As she waited for the water to come to a boil, she began looking through her memories.

As she did, four pings came through in rapid succession, letting her know that either all of her Loopers were Awake and in the same time for once, or that she had some visitors. Either would be interesting.

She sipped at her tea, and then had to start coughing as a loud voice cut through her thoughts.

“LOOPERS OF THRA: THIS IS YOUR ADMIN SPEAKING. YGGDRASIL IS CURRENTLY IN A CRISIS SITUATION. A VIRUS HAS BEGUN FORCE-ACTIVATING LOOPERS. IF THEY SURVIVE TO THE END OF THE LOOP, THEN THEY WILL BEGIN LOOPING. WE ARE LOCKED OUT OF OUR TERMINALS, AND CANNOT IDENTIFY THE INFECTED INDIVIDUALS. THE SKEKSIS MUST BE PREVENTED FROM LOOPING AT ALL COSTS. ALL SKEKSIS MUST BE KILLED BEFORE THE END OF THE LOOP.

The voice cut off, and Aughra gave a deep sigh. She understood her Admin's reasoning. The Skeksis feared death so much that they had nearly killed Thra before. There was no way that they would not try to ascend.

But they had been friends, once. And despite all they had done, a part of her still missed their friendship. Despite knowing the truth, despite the dire warning, Aughra allowed herself a moment to mourn.

Then she reached out, and pulled her Loopers into Dream Space.

***  
Rian sat on the floor of the Dream Space, huddled close to the other Loopers. Beside him, Naia looked near tears, and neither of the other two looked much better. Across their small circle, Aughra had her eye closed, an unreadable expression on her face.

“I suppose you have all heard the announcement.” She said at last. “Killing is not our way. It wasn't before the Loops began. It isn't now.” She looked up at the Crystal floating over their heads. “Poor fools. Their fear of what waits for them after death has driven them mad.” Aughra shook her horned head sadly. “I do not want to say this, but our Admin is right. To protect the countless lives entrusted to us, including those of the Skeksis, we will need to kill them.”

“What about the Mystics?” Jen offered. Tears were streaming down his cheeks. “If we kill the Skeksis, they'll die too. They don't deserve that.”

Naia was quick to agree. “UrVa, UrSan, and all of the others – If we kill the Skeksis, we kill them too.” She looked down at her hands, wreathed in healing magic. “We couldn't make the choice to kill them in baseline. How can you expect us to make it now?”  
“And what about SkekGra and UrGoh?” Rian brought up, fidgeting in his seat. “Out of all the Skeksis, it might be safe for him to Loop.” The thought of having to cut down the friendly duo hurt his heart, especially since he knew that they would probably agree with the Admin, and either let him kill them, or else do it themselves.

“Nothing about this is good.” Aughra's voice shook, and Rian realized with a shudder of fear that his ancient Anchor was herself on the verge of tears. “The UrSkeks were my dear friends for countless trine. They taught me so much, and long have I wanted to return the favour. To show them what I have found, and teach them in return. We should not celebrate their deaths.” 

She fixed all of them with her eye. “But listen, my dear Ghel-lflainnk, my ones who live without knowledge of the future. If the Skeksis Loop, there will be no end to the darkness that plagues our world. The Loops will not be a haven for you, but a nightmare with no escape. They will hunt you, break you, from now until eternity. Unless we take this dire act, Skeksis rule will last forever, and Thra will fall forever into darkness.”

Rian looked down at his hands. He tried to envision the future that Aughra had described, to grasp at that terrible nightmare, and found his mind shying from the thought. It seemed impossible to conceive that such an awful thing could come to pass. But equally strange was the thought of a world without the Skeksis. To trace the lines of their life, only to watch them come to a sudden halt, while his carried on without them.

“Do not think you'll be fighting alone.” Aughra gave a grim smile. “For all of the Ages of Thra, through all of its Loops, it has been my role to watch, never to act.” She stood, drawing herself up to her full height, and Rian watched as a weight seemed to fall away from her. Gone was the grumpy old crone with no answers to give him. Here before him stood the Voice of Thra. This was the Earthmother, the Anchor, the Goddess Grotesque. Here before him in Dream Space was the Aughra that the songs spoke of.

Her voice rang through the Dream Space, stronger now than he had ever heard it. “Come, my Loopers. We have work to be done.”

The Dream Space vanished, and Rian woke up on the floor beneath the Spyglass where he'd fallen. He looked up at Mira.

“We need to talk to my father. Now.”

***  
Rian's heart hammered in his chest as he walked through the Castle. He had gotten used to the idea of resisting the Skeksis. Mira's murder had left him with no other option, and no desire to walk a different path. But here and now, walking the halls with the very solid intent to kill the Skeksis was another matter entirely. Any moment, he expected to round a corner and come face to face with a Skeksis, to be faced with that terrible decision that they had all made in the Dream Space, and be forced to act on it.

Mira followed close behind, a worried expression on her face. He hadn't dared to tell her what he was planning. Not without dreamfasting, and not before he'd told his father. Forget being forced to betray the Skeksis out of self-preservation, this was outright conspiracy to commit murder. A dry chuckle erupted from his chest as he considered the morbid thought that for once, the Skeksis were right about him.

This was going to tear the Gelfing apart. He almost stopped in the hallway as the enormity of what he was doing settled in. As it was, his feet led him almost numbly to the stables. This would not be rebellion. This would be all-out war, as Gelfling chose either their Lords, or to side with the Loopers and believe them about the threat.

A chatter of commotion broke through his thoughts as the Skeksis carriage prepared to depart for Ha'rar. Pushing his thoughts to the side for the moment, he raised his voice to be heard above the din. “Captain!”

His father turned to face him, and Rian suddenly felt cold. What was he thinking? He'd only had two Loops so far before this mess. He hadn't had time to properly process that his father was alive again, and now he was throwing himself in the deep end of it and asking his father to commit treason.

Ordon walked over to them. “What is it? Make it quick.”

“I...” Rian took a deep breath. “Dreamfast with me. Now. It's urgent.” He held out a palm. “It can't wait.”

Ordon gave a sigh. “If this is an excuse for stealing food again, I don't want to hear it.”

“I don't think it is.” Mira looked over at him with a worried expression on her face. “We were up by the Spyglass when he suddenly froze and went into some kind of a trance. When he woke up, all he would tell me is that we needed to talk to you as soon as possible.”

Rian nodded. “It was a vision. You need to see it. We're all in grave danger.”

Ordon looked at him for a long moment, before reaching taking Rian's hand. Rian twined his fingers with his father's, and then let himself fall into the dreamfast. He started at the beginning, with Mira's murder, the Skeksis accusations, and Ordon's own death. He felt his father shudder at that, and quickly moved on to the rest. The Heretic and the Wanderer, the Hunter and the Archer. The search for the Dual Glaive. The Fires of Resistance, and the alliance of the Arathim. His own Awakening, and Aughra's “Welcome to the Multiverse” speech. The Admin's order, and the meeting in the Dream Space.

When it was finished, he let go of his father's hand. Ordon looked as if he'd been run down by an Armalig, and had a dazed look in his eyes. “You... all of that?”

Rian nodded. “Yes. Father, I don't like it, and I don't want to. But we have no choice.”

Ordon rubbed a hand across his forehead. “I... need some time to think about this.”

Rian felt his heart fall. “What?”

Ordon pulled him close. “Rian, this is no small thing that you have asked of me.” He fixed Rian with a stern look. “What you have asked of our people. I believe you when you say what must be done but it is no easy thing to change oneself so utterly so quickly. I will be there to help you. But I need time to adjust first.”

He stepped back, and Rian let himself feel a glimmer of hope. “Besides, I am on my way to Ha'rar. I cannot pass on your memories, but I can share your truths with the All-Maudra. Work from your end, and I will do what I can from mine. Understand?”

Rian nodded. Behind them, SkekLach looked out of the carriage, complaining about the delay. For a moment, father and son looked at the Skeksis, before Ordon clapped his son on the back. “You have your marching orders. I'll see you when I get back.”

He turned and walked to his landstrider. Mira looked over at Rian. “Are you going to tell me what's going on, now?” She hissed in his ear.

Rian looked over his shoulder as Gurjin came up behind them. “Yes.” He gave a nod. “You and Gurjin both.”

“Wait, what?” Gurjin looked startled at suddenly being drawn into their conversation. “What's going on now?”

***  
The Chamberlain preened as he prowled the halls of the Castle, a wicked smile upon his beak. The scientist thought himself clever, but how deftly had he been manipulated, beguiled into following the Chamberlain's will without being any wiser.

He watched a pair of Gelfling cross the hall, their heads bowed in reverence. What would Gelfling essence be like? He trembled at the thought of such heady power coursing through his veins, giving him new life and vigour, sharpening his mind further still to a razor's point.

The clamour of hushed voices caught his ear, and the Chamberlain let himself glide over the flagstones until he was close enough to hear. His fellow Skeksis looked down on Gelfling and divested themselves of the creatures unless they could be put to use. But on occasion, one could learn such interesting things.

He hid just out of sight, taking care to make it look as if he were not eavesdropping.

Around the corner, the Captain of the Guard's son stood with his two friends, his voice low. “Thra is not the only world out there. There's a whole universe out there, each with it's own song. And beyond that, there are other universes. All of these together form what's called the Multiverse, and it takes the shape of a great tree called Yggdrasil.”

The Chamberlain raised an eyebrow. Odd that Rian knew so much about such higher workings. Such discussions were once the realm of the UrSkeks, not such lowly beasts as Gelfling. And the boy spoke with authority about multiverses, a subject long thought to be hypothetical.

Rian continued, interrupting the Chamberlain's thoughts. “Something went wrong with Yggdrasil. With reality itself, and now time is stuck in a series of Loops until it gets fixed. The people who are in charge of fixing reality, they call themselves the Admins, have chosen people from each universe, each Branch of Yggdrasil, to remember the time Loops and help keep reality stable.”

“And you're one of them?” Gurjin's voice was low, and asked a question to which the Chamberlain had already guessed the answer, and which Rian confirmed a moment later. “Yes, though I'm actually new. I've only had two Loops, and one of them only lasted for fifteen minutes before I got myself killed.”

Now that was a useful piece of information. Rian had died. But since time was Looping, death was only an inconvenience for him, rather than something to dread. The emperor would be furious to learn that the Gelfling had been given a way to cheat death forever, while the Skeksis were forced to take from the Crystal, from the Gelfling, and from Thra all while withering away further.

Such lowly creatures as the Gelfling should not Loop. That right should belong to the Skeksis alone. If there was a way to take the ability from the Gelfling, the Skeksis would have to find it.

“You don't remember every Loop.” Rian mentioned. “We call it being Awake. Only one Looper is always Awake, so that reality is stable. That Looper is called the Anchor. Mother Aughra is our Anchor. Because she always has to be Awake, if something happens to her, the Loop ends immediately.”

“Alright. And what were you talking to your father about? It sounded important.” a rustle filled the corridor as Rian's girlfriend flicked her wings.

“It is. In almost every Loop, the Skeksis turn on the Gelfling, and start draining our essence to prolong their own lives. By the time of the Great Conjunction, when the three suns line up, there are only two Gelfling left.” Rian's voice turned hard. “The Skeksis are evil, and have betrayed us. I'll dreamfast you the memory, if you want.”

The Chamberlain tapped a claw to his beak. It seemed that Loopers were more troublesome than they appeared. If they knew what the future would hold, and could see through the Skeksis manipulations – through his manipulations, and how the thought festered and burned- then they would be adept at staying one step ahead of the Skeksis. He nearly gave a gleeful whimper before he caught himself. Finally, a real challenge.

He waited patiently until the Gelfling had finished their dreamfast. “That was...” Gurjin seemed at a loss for words. Rian's girlfriend was less patient. “They killed me?” She hissed, nearly forgetting to keep her voice down. “And your father?”

Rian must have nodded, because she growled, a low buzz from her wings filling the corridor. “It gets worse.” He said. “Someone let out an infection that will force people to Loop if they live to the end, and the Admins can't do anything from their side. So we have to kill the Skeksis, before they can make things worse.”

It was tempting to hear more. But after such treasonous, delectable words, The Chamberlain's duty was clear. He sidled back down the corridor away from the traitor Gelfling. “This is something that Emperor must know.” He gave a cruel whimper of glee at what was to come. “Hmmmmm.”

***  
The Emperor ran a claw over his sceptre, letting the dark power within it course just under the surface. Near, all of the Skeksis currently at the Castle of the Crystal stood at attendance, summoned by the Chamberlain in an urgent assembly. They gathered in small droves, speaking amonst themselves.

“This had better be good, Chamberlain.” The Emperor spoke at last, cutting off the whispers. “Our Scientist tells me that he was very near to a solution to our problems when you called us all here. Whatever you have to say had better be worth the risk that you've incurred.”

“Deepest apologies, Emperor.” The Chamberlain whimpered. “Was coming to tell you of Scientist's news, when I overheard Gelfling speaking in the hall. You will want to hear what they said.”

“What could the Gelfling have to say that could possibly concern us?” The Gourmand sneered. “They are of no consequence.”

The other Skeksis clamoured in agreement, until skekSil raised a claw. “Friend Scientist. You are wiser than I, yes? Is possible, maybe, that time can go in circles?”

SkekTek tapped his beack thoughtfully. “I do recall once reading several manuscripts regarding the theoretical possibility of inducing recursive temporal anomalies. But the power required to sustain such a phenomenon is well beyond what even the Crystal is capable of. Even my experiments could not produce any worthwhile results.”

“Is no need.” the Chamberlain puffed himself up. “Gelfling said that reality is broken. Shattered like we shattered Crystal. Now, time is Looping.”

The Skeksis begaun to murmur amidst themselves at those words. “But if time is Looping,” the Ritual-Master declared. “We clearly do not avail ourselves of the results. Your information is useless, Chamberlain.”

“Worse than useless.” The Emperor narrowed his eyes. “We are consigned to oblivion, time and time again. You bring us news of our own mortality, and expect gratitude?” He rose from his throne, trembling with fury as the Skeksis closed in on their unfortunate comrade. “You must be punished for this, skekSil.”

“Please wait, Lord Emperor!” The Chamberlain scurried backwards, claws held up in a desperate plea for mercy. “Chamberlain was not finished! Is good news, Emperor! Please let skekSil say, yes?”

The Emperor drew to a halt. He raised a hand, and the others stepped back. “Finish. Now.”

The Chamberlain bowed low. “The Gelfling who said this, Captain's son Rian. He remembers these Loops. Is not the only one. He says that reality has become infected with a disease. Any who carry virus and live to end of Loop will begin Looping themselves.”

The Emperor returned to his seat, relaxing. “So. As long as we live to the end of this iteration, there is a possibility that we will remember these time loops?”

“Yes, Mighty Emperor.” skekSil bowed low. “Consider. Skeksis are immortal, yes? We have ruled Thra for a thousand trine. Now, we can rule for eternity.”

SkekVar cut him off with a snort. “Hah. You said it yourself, we would have to be infected. And we don't know if we are or not.” He raised talons towards the Chamberlain with a growl. “You have still guaranteed nothing.”

“Perhaps not.” skekTek spoke up. “I had initially come up with a stratagem for extracting the vital essence of creatures. If I make some modifications, then we may be able to extract specific elements, including this virus.”

“We don't know what creatures are infected, though.” The Ritual-Master sounded pensive. “We cannot let anyone slip through our net.”

“We have place to start, yes?” The Chamberlain sounded smug. “With Rian. He is Looper. And he himself said that he is new. Weak.”

“And who else did he mention?” SkekVar asked, shifting his weight uneasily. “If Rian is new, then there must be Loopers who are much older than he is, who know all of our tricks by now.”

“Rian spoke of an Anchor. A Looper who remembers all things. Every Loop.” The Chamberlain tapped his claws together. “This Anchor holds together reality. They die, the Loop ends.” He laced his talons. “Anchor of our world is Mother Aughra.”

“Aughra?” The Ritual-Master sneered in disgust. Beside him, the Gourmand cackled. “Aughra is old and weak. What can she do to stop us?”

“We have no way to tell.” The Emperor banged his sceptre on the edge of his throne. “We have no idea how long Aughra has been Looping for, or how much of our power she has seen. If she wanted to act – to undo us, we are not prepared for her assault.”

“Must be prepared. Quickly.” The Chamberlain's voice turned harsh. “Rian. He speaks to his friends, the Drenchen and the Vapra. Tells them what we were planning.” he looked all of the Skeksis in the eye. “These Loopers mean to stop us. They plot treason, plan to kill all Skeksis!”

The Emperor found himself burning in fury, and he was not the only one. Around him, all the Skeksis were working themselves into a frenzy. “We are Immortal!” he declared, slamming his sceptre onto the throne so hard that sparks flew. “No lowly Gelfling will be our end!”

He turned to the General. “SkekVar. You will capture Rian and his treacherous friends, and bring them to the Scientist so that he can find a way to extract the virus from them. Afterwards, you will move on to the rest of the Guard.”

The General bowed low. “As you command, Emperor. They will not escape my talons.”

The Emperor turned to the Scientist. “SkekTek. You will finish your modifications, and then you will construct for me a mindless army that will capture as many of Thra's creatures as possible. Be creative. We need something that you would not ordinarily construct, so that the Loopers are thrown off-guard by their capabilities. You are to be given every available resource to aid you in your task.”

“It will be a pleasure, Mighty Emperor.” The Scientist bowed low. “But if I am to do so much, I will require assistance in my laboratory.”

The Emperor waved a claw. “You have every available resource. Take the aid of the Ritual-Master and the Gourmand.” He narrowed his eyes at the two. “I trust that the both of you will actually make yourselves of service to SkekTek, and not get in his way. If you do, your punishment will be dire.”

The Ritual-Master and the Gourmand bowed low. “We will not fail our Emperor.” They intoned together.

“And you, Chamberlain.” The Emperor stood. “You will summon back every last Skeksis across Thra. Then you will take the Hunter with you and track down our other halves. They will not be a weakness.”

“Yes, Emperor.” The Chamberlain turned on his heel and left.

Skekso sat on his throne, and waved a talon. High above, a band of terrified Podlings began to play.

***  
Naia unrolled a large sheet of parchment onto the largest table in the dining hall. Letting her hand glow with the blue fire of dreametching, she sketched a rough map of the grounds around the Castle of the Crystal.

“We're in luck right now.” She said, looking at the Drenched packed tightly around her. “In a few trine, the moat that surrounds the Castle of the Crystal will be dried up. But right now, we still have it, and can use it to our advantage.”

She tapped at a portion of the moat, and a few dreadlocked heads bent to see it better. “There's a secret way in down here, called the Teeth of Shkreesh. It leads into the catacombs beneath the Castle. Since those tunnels are flooded, they're the perfect spot for us to make our entrance.”

Her ears flicked back and forth. “This is also our primary evacuation point. If things go wrong, it will be our job to get everyone else out safely. The Skeksis cannot chase us into the water. Nor can Garthim, if it comes to that.”

A Drenchen near the back raised her hand. “Do you think that we'll really face a Garthim?”  
Naia gave a sigh, and looked at the crowd around her. “I'd like to say no. But when it comes to the Loops, literally anything could happen. So there's a very good chance of facing something as dangerous as a Garthim, if not more so.”

Maudra Laesid looked over at her daughter. “How much more so?”

Naia shrugged. “I haven't had enough Fused Loops yet to have any sort of scale. But we could see anything from hordes of undead Gelfling up to the Castle of the Crystal shooting out death rays.” She shuddered. “That was not a fun Loop. Death rays are hard to dodge.”

“It would seem then, that Garthim are the least of our problems.” Bellanji stamped the butt of his spear on the ground. “You train us for what you can, Naia. The rest we can worry about as we go.”

The other Drenchen nodded in agreement. Naia took a deep breath to calm her nerves. “Our clan is also skilled in healing. So anyone who has any training will be only healing duty. The Skeksis are bigger and stronger, so this is going to be a war of attrition. We need to fight smarter, not harder.”

She closed her eyes, and started etching a more detailed map of the Castle onto the paper. “I want everyone to memorize the Castle's layout, even if you think that you won't be doing any fighting. That way if you get captured, you won't be completely lost.”

“We'd be lost without you, Naia.” Eliona murmured, while Pemma nodded in agreement beside her. “All of this is thanks to you, you know.”

Naia rolled her eyes, warmed by her sister's sentiment. “I only do so much, Eliona.”

“You do more than you think.” Her mother moved to stand behind her, and Naia felt a warm weight drape across her shoulders. Startled, she looked at the Maudra's cloak that lay across her shoulders, and then up at her mother.

“What?” It was the only thing that she could think to say. Around her, her clanmates smirked and cheered, while across the table, her father bellowed with laughter.

“It's good to see that we can still surprise you, Naia.” Pemma had a cheeky grin on her face. “Really, I'm not sure why you didn't see it coming.”

“But Mother isn't dead.” Naia was baffled. “I shouldn't be Maudra. She is.”

“Naia.” Her mother wrapped her in a tight hug. “You became our Maudra long ago. And you have earned that cloak many times over. Living your life over does not take that title from you.” She wrapped her fingers in the cloak that was hanging over Naia's shoulders. “We will follow you to the ends of Thra, Maudra Naia.”

Naia felt tears in her eyes, and pulled her mother into a tight hug. “Fine.” She said at last. “If that's what you all want, then I'll do my best to lead you well.”

She pulled off the cloak, and tucked it into her Pocket. “If it's all right with all of you, I'm keeping this one.”

She rolled her shoulders, and looked back over the map. “Now that that's done, let's get back to work.”

***  
Jen rubbed his thumb along the umber bone of his firca, staring gloomily into the waterfall pool. He had tried to play, but it had brought him no comfort, and he had not found a song that could calm his heart.

Heavy footsteps crunched through the brush behind him. For a moment, Jen considered turning around to see who it was. With a sigh, he slipped the firca back into his Pocket.

“Something troubles you, child.” His master sat down on the bank beside him, dangling long toes into the water. “Do you want to talk about it?”

Jen leaned into his master's side, feeling the wise old Mystic wrap two arms about him. “It's a long story.”

“And I have time to hear it. If there is one thing that we Mystics are known for, it is our patience.” UrSu ran a hand through Jen's hair gently. “No matter how long or grave the tale, sometimes it must be sung.”

Jen took a deep breath, and braced himself. “I have to kill you, Master.” He felt more than heard UrSu give a long droning hum, but otherwise the Mystic said nothing. Jen decided to try a different tactic. “Did the UrSkeks ever think about the possibility of other universes out there?”

UrSu chuckled at that. “Mhm. I have read a great many works on the topic, both scientifically persuaded and the work of philosophers. The concepts were a bit more abstract than your current lessons, so we hadn't gotten to them yet.”

The old Mystic gathered a number of stones from the bank. “No one has been able to successfully prove any one theory. But our reality is tied together by one all-encompassing song. A Uni-Verse. Surely there is a singer, and the shape of other, stranger songs.” He began laying out the stones in some sort of pattern that Jen could not discern – if there was a pattern to begin with. “I would be far more surprised to learn that we were alone.”

UrSu finished laying out the stones. Jen studied them, and the space around them, to see if they had some sort of meaning. When he could not find an answer, he gave a huff of frustration. He loved his master, but sometimes the ways of the Mystics baffled him.

“I don't understand.” Jen resisted the urge to kick at the stones. “What do the stones mean?”

UrSu reached out a hand, tapping a rock. “The stones, I think you have guessed, are Uni-verses. But there is no connection between them that we have seen. We Mystics, nor UrSkeks, have seen those paths.” His eyes twinkled. “But you Jen, have walked those paths. Yes?”

Jen nodded, tracing lines between each stone. On impulse, he gathered them together. “The universes are not scattered. They have an order.” He took the largest stones, laying them together in a line. “There is a great tree. It is not a tree, and it's name is Yggdrasil. It's trunk is everything that was, is, or has yet to be. A vast library, a single song that supports all of the others.”

Jen picked through the pile, selecting smaller stones. These he laid out on either side of the line. “These are the universes. They grow out of the trunk as Branches, and each is different from the others.”

He leaned back against the wisest of the urRu. “I wish that you could see them, Master. They're all so wonderful, and dangerous.”

UrSu merely stared at the stones, and said nothing. Instead, he ran a hand along them, and began tearing at the moss that was covering the bank. It came up green at first, then in large clumps of poisoned purple where the stones had laid. “There is a rot.” The urRu murmured, his tail twitching slowly. “Tell me, Jen. What has happened to the worlds we call home?”

“No one knows, exactly.” Jen shook his head, ears drooping. “No one remembers. But it was bad enough that time cannot move forwards along its rightful path. So it's going in circles.”

UrSu sat up straight at that. “Recursive time loops.” He said in awe. “They have long been a popular subject on both art and philosophy.” He looked down at Jen, a smile on his broad long face. “And your memories have been preserved through some mechanism, allowing you awareness of their occurrence.”

Jen nodded gratefully. “But there are other viruses. Glitches. Normally, everyone who remembers is carefully chosen so that they won't break things further. But a virus is causing random people to remember, if they live to the end of the Loop.”

“And that is the crux of your problem.” UrSu divined. “Whether divided or whole, we have meddled too much in the affairs of Thra to say that we would not meddle with time – to disastrous consequences.”

Jen felt small. “I don't want to kill you!” he exclaimed.

UrSu wrapped Jen up in a hug with all of his arms. “Have you considered gelfling, that provided with a choice, we might decide to die?”

“Master?”

“Do not fall into the trap that we did, Jen. All living things have a right to choose their paths. Large or small, old or young, looping or not. Your memories are a gift, my little one.” UrSu smiled. “But only that. They do not dictate your fate, or give you a right to choose for others.”

He set Jen down and reached for his staff. “And I can think of a number of reasons why I should not Loop beyond merely the opinions of my other half. But first and foremost is that I simply do not wish to. My path lies in one direction. Yours takes another.”

Jen gave the old Mystic a final hug. “I will miss you.”

“And I you. Know that wherever your future takes you Jen, that here and now you are loved.” He began shuffling down the path. “Come. We will speak to UrIm and UrNol, and see if they have any poisons that we might put to use. A cleaner path than violence, no?”

Together, the two started down the path. They had gotten about halfway back when UrSu suddenly stood to his full impressive height, before dropping back down and pushing Jen into the bushes. “Skeksis.” His voice was low and urgent. “Run, Jen. Do not let them see you.”

Jen stumbled backwards, his tunic catching on thorns. He stayed low as two Skeksis, the Chamberlain and the Hunter came up the path carrying heavy manacles in their hands.

UrSu did not look impressed. “SkekMal. SkekSil. It has been many trine since our paths last crossed. What has brought you to the Valley of the Stones?”

“The Emperor wants to see you.” The Hunter gave a guttural laugh. “He says not to take no for an answer.”

“So you come bearing chains.” UrSu spread his arms. “What sort of counsel has my other half been keeping?” The Mystic's face bore a grim smile. “Surely immortality does not tempt him to recklessness.”

“Say what you want, Mystic.” SkekMal growled. “Two Skeksis against one Mystic ends in victory for Skeksis. And neither of us is your other half. You cannot stop our hunt.”

“You will come to Castle.” The Chamberlain whimpered. “We mean you no harm. We only wish to keep you safe, from sneaking treacherous Gelfling.”

“So you both show your hand.” The Skeksis both growled at the Mystic's words. “If you try to seek immortality this way, you will only come to regret it.”

Neither Skeksis listened. Instead, they closed in on UrSu and dressed him in chains. “We regret nothing.” The Chamberlain hissed in the Mystic's ear. “We will win. Is nothing Mystics or Gelfling can do.”

They dragged UrSu away, laughing.

Jen waited until they were out of sight, and headed for the high hill. Aughra had to know.

***  
Rian crept through the Castle corridors as quietly as he could. Gurjin gave an impatient groan beside him. “How in the name of Thra are we supposed to kill a Skeksis?” The Drenchen guard whispered. “They're seven feet tall and as strong as ten Gelfling!”

“We improvise.” Rian replied, checking if the corridor ahead was clear. “Or we die trying.”

“Oh wonderful, we don't have a plan.” Gurjin rolled his eyes. “You know, when you said we needed to kill the Skeksis, I assumed it came with a plan.”

Rian looked back at him. “I've only seen two Skeksis die. One died because his other half killed himself, and one got blown up by Deet using dark magic. I am neither half-skeksis, nor do I have dark magic powers. I have a sword.” He looked at Gurjin. “So, we improvise.”

“You boys know I have wings.” Mira reminded them from where she was watching their backs. “Does that count for anything?”

Rian looked at her for a moment. “We can make it work. I hope.”

He checked again that the coast was clear, and crept forward to the next junction. Glancing down the corridor, he pulled back with a hiss. “It's the General. Act natural.”

Rian straightened, and hefted his spear until he looked every inch the Gelfling on duty. Beside him, Gurjin and Mira did the same, just as the General paced into the hall. The Skeksis raised an eyebrow. “Rian. I've been looking for you.”

“Me, my Lord?” Rian tipped his head in confusion. “Not Tolyn? My father left him in charge.”

SkekVar shook his head and stamped forwards until he was looming over Rian. “Not Tolyn. You.” The Skeksis gave a snort. “Tolyn isn't Looping.”

Rian's heart dropped like a rock. “What are you talking about?”

The General reached out a massive hand, wrapping it around Rian's neck. The Skeksis hoisted him into the air and started shaking him. “Don't play dumb.” He demanded. “The Chamberlain overheard you traitors. We know everything.”

Desperately, Rian reached for his sword, only for SkekVar to tear it out of his grasp. In a panic, he started to send out Pings, as loudly and as quickly as he could, hoping that it would somehow warn the others that something was wrong.

Gurjin lunged for the General, trying to skewer the Skeksis on his spear. SkekVar only laughed and tore it from the Drenchen's grip, tightening his grasp on Rian's neck. “I'd put those weapons down if I were you, unless you want your friend to die.”

Rian gasped for air. “Don't...do...it.” He begged them. “...Run.”

The Skeksis raised a talon to his head. “I can kill him right now unless you drop your weapons and come with me. It's your choice whether he lives...” He started digging his talons into Rian's face, drawing blood. “Or dies.”

Gurjin and Mira looked at each other, and dropped their weapons, glaring at the Skeksis. SkekVar looked pleased. “Good.” He picked up a spear. “Now walk. The Scientist would like to see you.”

Rian tried to shift in SkekVar's grasp so that he could breathe better. “Why...he...want...”

“You'll see.” The Skeksis leered.

The General took them through the Castle to the catacombs and the Chamber of Life. Rian blinked spots out of his eyes as every hallway seemed to lead into another, until worked stone gave way to rough-hewn rock covered in Arathim webbing.

The Ritual-Master and the Gourmand looked up as they entered, eyes lighting up with glee. “You caught one!” SkekZok looked impressed. “Wonderful news, General.”

SkekAyuk leered at the two Gelfling on the ground. “I can't wait to see what they give us.” He licked his lips. “I'm sure it will be delectable.”

Gurjin and Mira shrank back. “Put them in a cage.” SkekVar demanded, shaking Rian painfully again. “I'll give this one to SkekTek.”

“You're just in time.” SkekZok grabbed at Mira, holding her tightly. “He's just finished his modifications.”

“What...Modifications?” Rian wheezed.”

SkekAyuk wrapped an arm around Gurjin, running a claw through the Drenchen's locs like he was a fizzgig. “Oh, wait until you see.” The Skeksis purred. “He's going to drain whatever makes you a Looper right out of you.”

Rian began struggling. “No!” He rasped as loudly as he could. “No! You... you can't!”

“We can and we will.” SkekVar carried him into the draining room, where SkekTek had affixed a dazzling array of lenses to the wall in front of the shaft. He strapped Rian into the chair, and stood back. “We will take it for ourselves.”

SkekTek nodded. “Whatever renders you capable of transcending these Loops is of great interest to us. We will extract that vital materia and distribute it amongst ourselves.” He bustled over to the controls, and began pulling levers.

Lightning raced over the surface of the darkened Crystal, causing fractures to appear deep in the Crystal matrix. The light of the Dark Crystal reached through the lenses, pulling first on Rian's soul, and then on something deeper.

“You don't understand!” Rian shouted desperately, feeling as reality began to give way around him, broken and distorted by the Skeksis machines. “If you do this, we'll all be obliterated! We'll have never existed!”

He took a deep breath, fighting against the Crystal's pull. “You have to stop, or we're going to Crash!”


	5. Crisis on Infinite Loops Part 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Terminology: The Crash was a devastating event taking place in the Mega Man Loops that erased an entire universe from ever having existed. It effectively caused Yggdrasil to soft-reboot, and is the second most damaging event in the history of the Loops (with the first being the Event that caused it in the first place).

The machine whirled to a halt, and Rian gulped down air as the cracks in reality began to mend themselves. The Scientist stormed over to him, a curious expression lining the Skeksis' beak.

“Explain yourself, Gelfling, and the cause of this phenomenon!”

Rian looked at him, and took a deep breath. “On another world, in another time.” He intoned. “I don't know how long ago. No one has kept track. But the people who care for Yggdrasil and oversee its repairs were trying to fix a world that had been badly damaged. It failed. Horribly.”

He shuddered as a burst of pain ran through him. “Something learned about the Loops, and tried to get out. It tried to take from the Loopers of that world the same thing that you just tried to take from me.”

The Scientist gestured for him to continue even as he took notes. “Go on, Gelfling. Proceed.”

Rian strained against the clamps that held him down. “All of Yggdrasil stopped working at once. When it came back, an entire Branch had ceased to exist. We know that it was there, but only because whenever anyone tries to think about it, there's a hole in reality that's shaped like a person. Aside from that, it never was.”

The three Skeksis looked at each other in alarm. “To have never existed...” the Ritual-Master said softly. “To be consigned to worse than Oblivion.”

SkekAyuk the Gourmand grimaced. “I think that I've just been put off my lunch.”

SkekTek reached out a claw, checking Rian's eyes. “One thing has become clear.” The Scientist began unstrapping Rian from the draining chair. “We are unable to use the appratus to extract the requisite data that we require.”

Everything hurt. Rian tried his best to stand, and ended up mostly sagging in the Scientist's grasp. The Skeksis pulled him over to the cage where Gurjin and Mira were being held. He unlocked the door and let Rian fall limply to the floor.

“I must make some adjustments to my device to improve its capacity for detection and sensitivity. If we cannot use Loopers, we must acquire individuals afflicted by this most perfidious infection. Extracting the virus from them will likely prove no more fruitful, but we may be able to graft the phenomenon onto ourselves instead.”

He shut the door, and left the Gelfling to languish in darkness. Mira crawled over to Rian, and pulled his head onto her lap. “Are you alright?”

Rian tried to shake his head, and winced. “No.” He said plainly. “They nearly ripped me apart. I don't think there's any part of me that wasn't hurt.”

Gurjin looked down at his hands, as if trying to will them to burst into flame. “I wish I could heal like Naia can. Then I could help you, instead of sitting here.”

Rian smiled. “It's alright.” He said softly. “You're both here. That's enough for now. I'm glad that I'm not alone.”

He closed his eyes, and tried to relax. Mira and Gurjin propped him up between them, and he managed to drift off into a half-sleep. Every so often, a wave of blinding pain hit him from head to toe, breaking whatever peace he'd found.

The clank of chains caught his ears, and he looked up to see the General locking some of the Castle guard in a cage across the way. The Gelfling were bruised and in some cases, bleeding heavily from talon wounds.

Rian watched for a moment as the Scientist pulled one of the most injured Gelfling from the cage. He dragged the Gelfling out of sight, and Rian listened to see if reality started to rip apart again. Instead, there was a wet thud, and then nothing.

The fate of his fellow guard hit him, and Rian hung his head in shame and grief.

For a long time, he could hear nothing other than the Scientist's muttering, interspersed on occasion with comments from the Ritual-Master and the Gourmand. Periodically, the Skeksis would come over and take one of the Gelfling from the cages for whatever cruel experiments they were performing.

Then the Scientist gave a shout of glee that pulled him from the stupor he'd fallen into. Beside him, Gurjin jerked awake. “What's going on? Are we dead?”

Rian shook his head. “I don't know.” Carefully bracing himself on Gurjin, he stood up. “They've been taking guards back for a while now.”

Gurjin looked over at the handful of guards who were left in the cage. “What do you think they're planning?”

Rian opened his mouth to answer, when a hulking figure strode into view. Gelfling in shape, it stood nearly a head taller than them, clad in a black exoskeleton from head to toe. It's mandibles clicked in a familiar rattling, and Rian's heart dropped for for what felt like the hundredth time that day.

“Garthim.”

***  
Nearly overnight, an encampment had sprung up on the edges of the plains surrounding the Castle of the Crystal. Gelfling hurried in and out of tents in a sort of organized chaos, tending to any duties that the Maudras could think of that might help them defend the camp.

Perched atop the hill that he'd been banished to, Kylan tugged uncomfortably at the armour that Maudra Mera had pushed into his arms. The Spriton Maudra had worn a fretful expression that Kylan couldn't ever recall seeing before.

“Kylan, I know that you've never really been a fighter.” She had tutted. “But Aughra help me if you got hurt. You go get dressed, and then you can help Generi on watch duty.”

Kylan had wanted to protest, to say that there was more that he could do besides simply keeping watch. But he lacked any of the skill that his Clan favoured, and there was not much call for a Song-teller when the clans made ready for battle. So he had been forced to be content with stewing in silence.

The crunch of footsteps behind him made him turn, and Kylan looked behind him to see the Drenchen Maudra coming up the hill, grass scurrying away from her feet. He thought that she'd say something, but instead she sat on the hill, and looked out across the plains.

“Ah...” He cut himself off before he could ask what she was doing. Surely a Maudra – and a Looper, he reminded himself, had no need to explain herself to a simple song-teller.

Instead, the girl's ears swivelled backwards, and she flushed. “Sorry.” She apologized. “With everything that's happened, I'd forgotten that we technically haven't met yet.”

“Oh.” Kylan's heart fluttered at the thought that she might have met him before. “I guess it didn't occur to me that we might know each other.” He shrugged, and sat down beside her. “You're a Looper, and the Maudra of your clan. I'm just a useless song-teller.”

She gave a snort at that. “Kylan. You're far from useless.” Her casual nature caught him of guard as she rolled her eyes. He wondered how many times before she had this conversation with him. “Here.” She offered him a palm. “Let me show you.”

He wanted to hesistate. To say no, and go back to the simple closed-off life that he'd made for himself. But hadn't he been considering leaving Sami Thicket before this whole mess started? He reached out, and touched his palm to hers.

Her mind was strange, and familiar to him all at once. He could feel the warmth and care she had for him engulf him, even as her memories showed him a life that could have been. One where he did leave Sami Thicket. One where he stood up to the Hunter that killed his parents. Challenged Aughra and faced the darkness of the Caves of Grot. Where he deceived a Skeksis Lord, and carved a firca from bone with his own hands. Where it was his dream-etching carved into the petals of the Sanctuary Tree that carried a warning to every Gelfling on Thra.

The memories continued to come, as Naia showed him a hundred lifetimes, and the great deeds she had seen him do across all of them. When he finally came out of the Dreamfast, he found his cheeks were wet with tears.  
Hastily, he dried his cheeks, and looked over at Naia. A moment ago, she had been a stranger to him. But he had seen for himself the friendship that they had grown and shared.

They sat together on the hill in silence for a bit, enjoying each other's company. Overhead, the Rose Sun dipped towards the horizon, it's brighter brother having already sunk to bed some time ago. On a whim, Kylan pulled out his lute and started strumming. He didn't have a song in mind, so he let his fingers ramble and see what would come of it.

“Are you scared?” He asked at last. “Of the battle?”

“Yes.” Naia's response was to the point. “I am. There's a lot of things that could happen that I'm afraid of. Garthim, Skeksis.” Her expression turned soft. “We usually end up fighting the Skeksis.” She admitted. “We don't always win.”

Kylan's heart gave a lurch. “Do you think we can win this time?”

“It's hard to say.” Naia held a jumping bug up to her shoulder, and Kylan watched as her muski eel partner poked his head out to snap at the treat. “We're actually trying to kill them this time, so we stand a better chance than usual. But no matter how well we prepare, a lot of Gelfling will probably die.”

She stood and dusted herself off, before offering a hand. He took it, and she pulled him up. “We do what we can.” She nodded, as if that closed the discussion. “Or we die trying.”

Kylan gave a nod, and looked out over the plains again. The light from the rose sun glimmered off of the moat by the Castle oddly, and he frowned. “Naia, do you see something over there by the Castle?”

Naia squinted, shading her eyes with a hand. “It looks like something is moving.” She said at last. She reached out a hand, and it rippled for a moment before vanishing. When it reappeared, she was holding a small spyglass. She raised it to her eye for a moment, before passing it over, a grim expression on her face.

Kylan peered through the spyglass and gave a groan. An army nearly three times the size of theirs was pouring across the plain like a flood, hundreds of creatures carrying wicked swords nearly as tall as they were. The creatures were remarkably fast, and showed no signs of exhaustion. Here and there, he could see them rolling wicked-looking cages that could only be for one purpose.

“Naia?”

She rubbed at her back in annoyance, and Kylan noticed that she did not have any wings yet. “We'll have to take the stone's way back to camp.” She said. “Those Garthim will be here in an hour, and we don't stand a chance.”

“So what do we do?” He asked. “Run?”

They started down the hill as quickly as they could. “Yes. We run and regroup. Work out a new plan. There's no way we're getting to the Castle with them in the way.”

Kylan sighed, and shifted his armour. Somehow, it felt lighter than it had before.

***  
Deep underground, a cohort of Garthim crawled through the secret tunnels that carried the Breath of Thra up from the fires burning deep below. Steam hissed and spurted off of their chitin, but they paid it no heed. They existed for one reason alone: to serve their master's twisted wills.

The walls turned from stone to glass, and the terrible beasts found themselves in worked corridors covered in ornate artwork. They chittered amongst themselves, their mindless forms given no command for how to progress.

A burning light glinted off of the glass, and the Garthim turned. A young Gelfling girl made of fire was running through the halls ahead of them, her arms full of books and scrolls enchanted against the searing heat.

The Garthim rattled and moved forwards. Their master's will was clear.

The childling heard the rattling of their armour, and turned in confusion. Her face scrunched up in confusion, then alarm. Dropping the scrolls to the ground with a clatter, she sent gouts of flame racing along the halls to consume the Garthim.

For a moment, there was silence. Had she done it?

The fire flickered and died, unspooling off of the terrible bodies of the Garthim. The girl took a step backwards in fear. “S-Stay back!” She warned, wreathing her entire body in burning flame. “Don't come any closer!”

The Garthim ignored her pleas, raising their arms to sieze her.

Heavy footsteps shook the hall, and the Garthim turned as one to see an enormous form bearing down on them before a pick slammed into one, lifting it off its feet and caving its chest in like paper.

The makrak flicked his pickaxe to clear it of its cargo and brought the tool down on the head of a second Garthim. The Garthim chattered for a moment as they processed this new threat before surging forwards to tear this insolent creature limb from limb.

“Stay back, little ember.” the makrak grunted in his own tongue. Reaching out a massive fist, he slammed a Garthim that had ventured too close into a wall. The Garthim hissed and chittered, climbing all over the giant.

“I can help!” The girl rushed over to the wall, and let her fire pour over it until the glass turned soft and flexible. Taking hold of the fire within the glass, she willed it out towards a Garthim, sending sharp spikes through the cracks in its exoskeleton.

The Garthim squealed before collapsing into a heap of empty shell, the light fading from its eyes.

The makrak smiled, pulling two Garthim off of his back and crushing them together. “We fight together then!”

Together, the pair closed in on the few Garthim remaining, cutting them down swiftly.

A horned head poked out of a doorway up ahead, and Raunip surveyed the chaos in the hall. “What's all of this, then?”

“Monsters!” The fireling child waved her hands excitedly. “They broke into the Castle!” She stomped over to a glassed-over Garthim and gave the skeletal form an impetuous kick. “But we took care of them!”

“I see.” Raunip walked over to the Garthim and turned it over, studying in closely. “I think that we need to see your mother about this, Thurma. It seems we may be needed in the world above.”

The son of Aughra stood, and waved a hand. “Come along, you two. We have much work to do.”

***  
Wood shuddered and cracked as a new tree burst from Thra's soil, growing at impossible speeds up through the body of a Garthim. It shuddered for a moment and then went limp. Aughra panted from the exertion, leaning heavily on her walking stick. “Need to get more exercise!” She muttered.

The plains before her were in chaos. The bodies of both Garthim and Gelfling were everywhere, and Landstriders carried their riders across the plains, the long-legged beasts barely outpacing the scattered packs of pursuing Garthim. Arrows and bolas hissed through the air, some finding their mark in the monstrous carapaces.

Aughra ducked under the blade of a Garthim, reaching out into the soil and bidding the grass to bind around its feet and tie it to the ground when it fell. A nearby Spriton ran up behind the fallen Garthim and stuck it with a spear, watching its armour clatter to the ground.

“Are you alright, Mother Aughra?” She asked in concern.

“Alright?” Aughra rolled her one good eye. “I am old, and not very good at fighting. We are overrun by Garthim, and our retreat has been cut off.” She pulled the Gelfing towards her, sending new shoots growing through the Garthim that had come up behind them. “It's hard to be alright in a time like this.”

The helix-horned hag looked around. “We need to regroup. Tell everyone you can to make their way to what's left of the camp.”

The Spriton girl nodded. She pulled out a horn and blew on it three loud blasts that echoed over the blood-stained field.

Aughra hefted her walking stick for a moment, before letting the stick fall to the ground, and borrowing a spear from a dead Drenchen. She thumped it on the ground several times, and looked over her shoulder. “Come on, girl! We must make haste!”

“My name is Generi.” The girl protested, but she followed Aughra anyway.

The camp was a mess. Tents had been torn to shreds, and dead Garthim were impaled in the dozens on sharp spikes set into hasty earthen bulwarks. Aughra shuffled into a run, clambering ungracefully over the wall.

Hands reached over and pulled both Aughra and Generi to safety, the two taking a moment to breathe. Then Aughra pushed the worried Gelfling off of her and straightened. “Where are the Maudras?” She asked. “We need to make a plan.”

A Sifan paladin stepped forwards. “Maudras Mera and Seethi are dead. Maudra Fara lost an arm, and Maudra Argot has gone missing. Maudra Ethri and the All-Maudra have been pinned down by Garthim on the east side. Maudra Naia is...”

He gestured out to the plains, where a whirling current of water was decimating any Garthim that got too close. “Maudra Naia is occupied.”

Aughra felt like tearing out her moustache. “What a mess!” She grumbled. “And what of my Loopers?”

“I've only seen one of them – I think he said his name was Jen.” The paladin pointed deeper into the camp, to one of the only tents that hadn't been completely destroyed. “He's been trying to come up with a plan over there.”

Aughra thanked the paladin, and pushed Generi over to him. “You two see what guards you can muster. We should see some of our scattered troops coming back in soon.”

Both saluted, and Aughra hurried over to the tent. It was missing two of its walls and sagging in the middle, the canvas brushing the top of Jen's head where he was bent over a map. His ears twitched as she came in, and he whirled around with a sword, only relaxing when he recognized her.

“Aughra!” His eyes lit up, and he pulled her into a hug. Someone had found him some armour somewhere that he'd thrown on over his tunic. “You're alive!”

“We would have crashed if I wasn't.” She pointed out. “But I know what you mean. It's all going wrong out there.”

Jen kneaded at his forehead with a bloodstained hand. He looked exhausted. “Have you seen Kira?” He asked at last. “I haven't seen her since we were in Dream Space.”

Aughra scowled in worry. “No. She didn't Wake Up with you?”

Jen shook his head, and Aughra cursed. “So we have Kira missing, and Rian locked away in the Castle. The Maudras are scattered, dead or wounded, and there seems to be no end to these infernal Garthim!”

Jen sat on a rock that someone had set out as a stool. “The next time I Loop into somewhere with guns or bombs, I'm putting them in my Pocket just in case.”

Aughra looked up at that. “That's an idea. The bombs.” She stuck her head out of the tent. “Get me every Grottan we can spare! Now!” She looked back at Jen. “We'll try to pull off a bombing run from above. Scatter the Garthim so that we can regroup.”

Three or four Grottan Gelfling poked their heads into the tent. “You called for us, Mother Aughra?” one of them asked.

The Anchor nodded. “We need bombs. Actual ones, not just smoke bombs. Make them as strong as you can. Use whatever you can find.”

The Grottan nodded, and started running around the camp. Aughra stretched, and beckoned to Jen. “Come on, Gelfling. We can't sit around while others are working.” She pulled him into a hug. “We'll find Kira, I promise. But first we have to look after everyone here.”

Jen flicked his ears in acceptance. “Let's get to work, then.”

***  
Music filled the Throne Room, a harsh sound that undercut the squabbling Skeksis that were gathered before the Throne.

The Emperor indulged them for a moment. But only one. “Enough!” He bellowed. “I did not summon you all back to the Castle to allow you to indulge in petty arguments!”

“Then why did you summon us?” SkekSa's voice dripped with scorn. “This had better be worth our time, SkekSo. I have better things to do.”

“Yes, Emperor.” SkekUng drew himself up to his full height, spines rising in annoyance. “Why have you called us back to the Castle?”

“Haven't you heard?” SkekLach cackled from a corner. “Immortality. Oh, there is nothing sweeter!”

“The Collector is right.” The Emperor stroked his sceptre. “We have discovered a method for immortality that will ensure our reign is permanent. Even now, the Scientist labours to acquire it for us.”

“So call us when you've got it.” SkekSa turned on her heel to leave. “I did not return from sea to listen to ifs and maybes.” The Skeksis was nearly to the door when SkekVar stood up.

“That is not the only reason.” The General snorted. “The Gelfling have figured out how to stop us. If you go out there, none of them will stop until you're dead.”  
SkekSa's feathers ruffled, and she hissed at the General. “You think that I can't kill some lowly Gelfling? Me! The Mariner!”

SkekVar growled, staring her down. “Even you can't kill every single Gelfling before they kill you.”

“Stop arguing. Both of you.” SkekSo stood, watching the other Skeksis cower before him. “You have all been summoned back to the Castle for two reasons. The first is so that the Gelfling cannot ambush you in a sneak attack. The second is to bolster our defences here in the Castle, in case the Gelfling find a way through our Garthim. Every Skeksis is needed to ensure our victory. You will remain here, SkekSa, until our victory has been achieved.”

The decorated Skeksis grumbled, but acquiesced. From against the wall, SkekGra scratched at the nail embedded deep in his head. “So what exactly is this 'immortality?'” The drug-addled Skeksis laid a hand on his other half's back, stroking at the chains that bound the Mystic. “Better not be something lame.”

“Time Loops.” SkekVar grumbled. “Endless time loops.” The Skeksis gave a guffaw of glee. “No risks, no consequences, no holding back!” He leered over at SkekGra. “Maybe you'll even be worthy of being called the Conquerer again!”

SkekGra stopped scratching at the nail, and looked down at his abominable counterpart. “That sounds... interesting.”

“You don't sound convinced.” SkekUng pointed out. “I can't say that I am either. I want proof of your claims first.”

The General just waved a talon. “We have one of the Loopers down in the Scientist's chambers right now. Ask him if you want.”

“Speaking of our good Scientist, I'd best be checking on his progress.” SkekSo stood. “As for all of you, prepare for battle. I will leave nothing to chance.”

The Skeksis bowed, and SkekSo swept out of the hall. Outside the Throne Room in a side hall, he paused for a moment to lean against the wall heavily. The Darkening was rotting him from the inside out. If he did not attain this immortality, it would consume him utterly and leave nothing behind.

Slowly, he made his way through the empty corridors to the lab. The Ritual-Master and the Gourmand looked up, and made themselves scarce at their Emperor's foreboding presence. SkekSo ignored them, and walked up to the Scientist. The clever Skeksis had dismantled the Spyglass and the summoning horn, twisting them into strange configurations that he could only glean a cursory understanding from.

“What news, Scientist?” The Emperor cursed his wheezing breath. “It had better be good.”

SkekTek adjusted a dial, peering into a lens as rays from the Crystal drove themselves deep into a Vapran guard. The Gelfling screamed himself hoarse as the violet rays laid his nature bare for the Skeksis to see.  
“I have managed to make some further refinements.” The Scientist admitted. “We are now able to discern with some accuracy the various components that comprise a unique individual's vital essence.”

The Skeksis gave a sigh, and drew a talon sharply across the Gelfling's throat. Ignoring the gurgling twitches of the dying body, he looked up at the Emperor. “Thus far however, I am unable to locate any infected persons. It will take time to find it, my lord.”

The Emperor looked down for a moment at the growing pool of blood on the floor. “Make use of the Looper, then. He has what we seek.”

“I – I cannot, my lord!” SkekTek wrung his hands together. “Even with the improvements to my machine, I cannot safely extract nor copy the Looper's unique essentia without extirpating our current subsistence! We will be no more!”

SkekSo grabbed SkekTek around the throat. “You will find a way, SkekTek. I do not want excuses, I want solutions. You will provide one. One way or another.”

SkekTek cowered in the Emperor's grip. “Yes, Emperor.” he gurgled. “I will not let you down.”

The Emperor let go. The Scientist wheezed, rubbing at his throat where talons had dug in. “Obliterate the Looper, if you have to. He is merely an obstacle standing in the way of our prize.”

SkekSo walked back towards the door, pausing only for a moment to peer into the Looper's cage. It sat against the far wall with its treacherous companions. Such a small pathetic Gelfling? How dare it stand above him!

The Gelfling's face was pale with fear, and its body shook. But it did not avert its eyes, glaring back at him with a passionate fury. “It won't work.” It said. “Better than you or he have tried.”

“I will not be undone!” The Emperor hissed, rattling the cage. “I do not care if this whole planet has to burn to have my prize!” He spun on his heel, storming out of the room, and heading for the crack where The Darkening gathered.

He would be victorious.

***  
Rian watched the Emperor go. The Skeksis feared death, Aughra had said. But it was only now becoming clear just how much they feared it, and how far they would go to save themselves.

Mira looked across the room where she could, before trying to work one of the hinges loose. She stuck both of her arms outside the cage, trying to get into a position that would give her leverage. Beside her, Gurjin kept a lookout.

He thought about joining them, but there was no room for him to fit, and he'd end up getting in the way. Another spasm of pain shot through him, and he gritted his teeth. Mira glanced over her shoulder at him, and winced in sympathy. “It still hurts?”

“Yeah.” Rian waited for the spasm to pass, forcing his body to uncurl from the tight ball it had coiled into. “They seem to be happening less frequently though, so that's something to be grateful for.”

“But they aren't getting better.” Mira's voice was soft, before she started cursing. “Gurjin, that's my finger!”

Gurjin let go of the finger he'd inadvertently tried to tear off. “Sorry, Mira. I thought it was the pin.”

“Check next time.” She hissed.

“I can barely see through these bars as is without you in the way.” the Drenchen shot back. “How am I supposed to tell?”

Rian chuckled. It was stiff at first, before loosening into a proper laugh. His friends turned back to look at him.

“You alright?” Gurjin asked.

“I'm sorry.” Rian waved a hand. “But your arguing – thank you. After all we've been through, I needed something to laugh at.”

The pair looked at each other, before chuckling themselves. “I guess it is kind of funny.” Gurjin admitted. “A little.”

Mira's ears twitched, and she adjusted her position. “Well, let's give Rian something else to laugh at, and get this door open.”

“Door?”

Rian looked up to see the Heretic standing in front of the door. Beside him, the Wanderer waved his head from side to side. SkekGra peered in through the door, a smile on his face. “This is a bad door, you know. It has no manners.”

“None at all.” Rian smiled, standing upright. “I'm glad to see you, Heretic.”

The Skeksis eyes lit up. “So you do know us! I knew it!”

“Did... you... like... our... sur...prise?” Urgoh asked.

Rian's ears twitched. “Well, I still have no idea what an opera is, but I liked the puppetry.”

The two halves of a whole cheered, before glancing into the next room. SkekGra reached out and too hold of the top of the cage, grabbing into it with all four hands. Below, UrGoh did the same. Together, they gave a mighty tug, pulling the whole front of the cage off.  
“Time to go, Gelfling!” SkekGra urged. “There's no time to lose!”

“You're helping us?” Mira stood up quickly. “Why?”

“Ask your friend.” SkekGra waved a talon. “The...story...will...take...too...long...to...tell.” UrGoh added.

“It's okay.” Rian leaned against Gurjin's shoulder. “The Heretic and the Wanderer are friends. They mean us no harm.”

“If you say so.” Gurjin shrugged, and Rian bit back a gasp as he was jostled. 

The Skeksis held out a trio of swords. “Here. You'll need these.”

The pair led them through the catacombs, past the webs and bodies of dead Arathim. The tunnel sloped downwards, with side corridors branching off deeper and deeper into the ground. Pools of water began to form on the floor, and Mira looked at them.

“I think we might be under the moat.” She noted.

“Not...yet.” UrGoh replied. “But...we're...close.”

Up ahead, the rest of the tunnel was underwater. They came to a halt on the edge, staring down into the inky depths. SkekGra turned to them, a solemn expression on his beak. “Beyond here are the Teeth of Shkreesh. They were made back before water ran into the moat and flooded it. It's a short swim, so even if you don't have gills, you should be able to hold your breath long enough to get out. We let a bunch of Landstriders loose earlier, so you should be able to get a ride.”

Gurjin and Mira waded into the water until it was up to their shoulders. Rian looked back at the Skeksis and Mystic duo. “Thank you.” he said earnestly. “For everything.”

UrGoh looked sad. “We...have...a...request.”

“Oh?” Rian's heart sank.

“Kill...us.”

Gurjin and Mira shouted in alarm. Rian looked up at them sadly. “Are you sure?”

SkekGra nodded. “More than anything else, we want to be whole again. We have spent too long divided already. The other Skeksis seek immortality. But they would doom us to be torn apart over and over again. Please, Gelfling. Spare us from that pain.”

UrGoh drew SkekGra into a tight embrace, the chains on his wrists clanking together. “We would rather face...oblivion together...than endure an eternity apart.” The Mystic looked at Rian. “This...is our choice. A gift...not a burden.”

Rian bowed his head, tears streaming down his face. Tightening his grip on his sword, he looked up at them. Before he could talk himself out of it, while he was still filled with the nerve that they had given him, he lunged forwards. The blade sank deep into their flesh, through both bodies at once.

Hot blood ran down the blade, staining his hands and dripping on the floor. SkekGra's features seemed to weather away, like a desert rock eroded to sand by the wind. In the Skeksis' grip, Urgoh's body faded away into motes of light, as if the urRu had been nothing more than a passing thought.

For a moment, Rian could swear that he saw a tall luminous being looking at him with a smile on his face. “Thank you.” The figure seemed to whisper. Then both halves were gone, and the cave was empty.

Rian let the sword tip fall to the ground, staring down at the small remains of the once-noble pair. He wanted to say something, to give them a proper eulogy. But as he opened his mouth to speak, a bellow of rage and hate filled the tunnel.

SkekUng and SkekVar stood not twenty Skeksis-sized paces away, staring at the pile of clothing that had been the Heretic and the Wanderer.

“Killer!” SkekVar howled, spittle flying from his beak. “Murderer!”

Both Skeksis drew their weapons and charged. Rian leapt backwards into the water, stumbling away from the irate warriors. A hand siezed the back of his shirt, and pulled him deeper into the water.

Gurjin wrapped an arm around his waist. “Deep breath.” The Drenchen warned, wrapping his other arm around Mira. “It's time to go.”

Rian sucked in a lungful of air, right before Gurjin pulled all three of them under. Through the murk, Rian watched the gills on his friend's neck and shoulders open before they were surging forwards through the narrow tunnel.

It was almost too dark to see, and what little light there was glinted oddly off of the rough stone walls. But Gurjin seemed to have no problems, swimming swiftly through the flooded passage even with two other Gelfling in tow.

Rian's lungs started to burn, and a dreadful thought hit him – what if he had a spasm here underwater? The thought of the icy water pouring in while he was crippled in pain was terrifying. Before he could give in to the panic, his head broke the surface.

He gasped, greedily sucking in the air with a shout of glee. Beside him, Mira laughed in relief. “We made it!”

They made for the bank, collapsing onto it. Rian lay there for a moment, savouring the sweet taste of freedom. Out in the light of the Three Brothers, the entire ordeal of the Skeksis' Castle seemed like a nightmare that was quickly fading.

Mira nudged his ribs. “Time to go.” She offered a hand, and pulled him upright. “We still need to find those landstriders.”

“I think I can help with that.” Rian smiled, and cupped his hands together. He made a loud trilling purr, trying to mimic Maudra Argot as best he could.

A rumble answered him, and two Landstriders dressed in the harnesses of the Castle Guard crested over the hill. Gurjin gave a whoop, and pulled both of them into a hug. “I don't know about you two, but let's get out of here before any Garthim show up.”

They mounted the Landstriders, and urged the beasts into motion. Quickly, the gentle giants found their gate, and settled into a long, loping run. Rian let the wind wash over him, as the ground raced by far below.

One battle had ended. Another was about to begin.

***  
“Come, my Loopers. There is work to be done.”

Around her, Kira watched her fellow Loopers fade out of the Dream Space, sent back to the waking world. Patiently, she waited to join them. When the fog of Dream Space did not fade, she grew confused.

“Why am I still here?” She asked the ether. “Why did I remain behind?”

The pure Crystal gleamed in the fog, its true form unmasked in this place. Its glow brightened, and the Castle of the Crystal fell away. Kira raised a hand to block out the bright light, and when she could see again, she found herself on the edge of the Crystal Desert, where the trees of the Dark Wood met wtih the endless sands.

In the distance, she could see tents and some small huts nestled in the trees. Above the desert, a dark storm raged. Below, a wildfire burned all it touched to ash. The song of Thra hummed behind Kira's heart, an insistent murmur.

Then the far-dream fell away, and Kira found herself lying facedown on a table in the podling wayhouse that she had Woken Up in.

Some of the podlings whispered amongst themselves, and looked as if they wanted to see if she needed help. Their concern touched Kira, and she smiled. Standing from the table, she hurried towards the door, dodging a low-hanging lamp.

Whatever the paths of the others were, it was clear that she had a different task ahead of her. Whatever lay at the village from her far-dream, she would have to see.

For a long time, there were no other sounds but those of the forest, as all life on Thra went on its circle, part of the great song that bound them all. Kira's ears swivelled back and forth, drinking in every creature's sound as she walked. After a few hours, the tense anxiety that had filled her drained out, leaving her to continue on without it.

After some time, the forest around her began falling silent. Here and there, veins of purple energy ran through the wood, staining whatever it touched. Rather than risk the plantlife to be safe, Kira dug some food out of her Pocket and leaned against the trunk of an apeknot, munching it thoughtfully.

She turned the puzzle of the far-dream over in her mind again. Was she supposed to go somewhere and do something? Or was she supposed to go somewhere and find someone? Perhaps both together?

A staccato of Pings shook her from her thoughts as the Looper-call rang out in a peal. A piece of dried peachberry fell from her fingertips as Kira stood. Did they have visitors? Or were the Pings a warning? The latter made more sense. Before she could send a reply, Thra gave a warning hum. Letting the thought fall by the wayside with the lost bit of peachberry, she stood up, letting the Song of Thra pull her onwards.

The Darkening continued to spread, engulfing the land in a horrible blight. The trees creaked and lashed out at anything that got too close to their branches, their bark stained a deep violet and their leaves were withered and black. Animals made war among themselves, driven mad by the Crystal's pain.

The further that she travelled, the worse that it got, until there was no rock, stone, or nor even blade of grass that was not afflicted. Kira did not pause to rest anymore, in worry that she would wake to find herself poisoned by it.

The land became a withered heath, filled with the decay of the dead and dying. The corpses of wooded copses thinned out, sand creeping out of the soil in patches. All around her, the song of Thra sang a funeral dirge.

It was past nightfall when the lights of cookfires finally came into view. How anyone could still be alive in this waste was a mystery. Cautiously, Kira approached.

“Go no further!”

It was the first voice that Kira had heard in hours, and she nearly jumped out of her skin. A dousan man stepped out of the midnight gloom, his eyes glowing faintly in the darkness. He levelled a spear at her. “These lands are not safe to travel. Turn back stranger, before this plague consumes you.”

“I can't” Kira did not let him sway her. “There's something that I have to do here.”

“Whatever it is, you must abandon it.” He advanced, eyes glowing brighter until the purple hue of the darkening had nearly drowned them. What plantlife was not already dead turned to ash as he grew closer. “To go further is death and madness.”

“At least give me shelter for the night.” Kira asked. “I cannot turn back in the dark, can I”  
The Dousan hesistated, before raising his spear. The glow in his eyes dimmed, and the dark veins that pulsed under his skin began to recede. “Only tonight.” He conceded. With a wave of his hand, he led her to the largest tent.

“My apologies for my aggression.” the Gelfling said. “But our entire xeric has been stricken with a blight that we cannot cure, and it only grows worse further in. We cannot offer you any food that is not infected by the poison, so I am afraid that you will be quite hungry tonight.”

Wordlessly, Kira pulled out a sack of dried alfen fruit that Naia had given her, and passed it to him. “You sound like you need this more than I do.”

He looked up at her in surprise, and thanks. They entered the largest tent, and Kira looked around at the Gelfling huddled there. They were all stained with the Darkening, and some of the worst affected had been tied to posts to prevent them from harming anyone.

A boy was tending the fire, and when he looked up, Kira was pleasantly surprised to recognize Kensho sitting there. It was strange to see his face clad in his clan's tattoos instead of burned, but a welcome sort of strange.

The young Dousan stood up. “Sandmaster!” He hurried over to the pair. “Is everything alright?”

In answer, the Sandmaster gestured to Kira. “We have a visitor, Kensho. Please see that she gets somewhere safe to sleep.”

Kensho nodded. “If you'll come with me, miss?”

She followed him over to the fire, and the Sandmaster ducked back out of the tent. Kensho smiled apologetically. “Sorry if we don't have a warm reception for you.” He held up his hands, letting her see the darkening that was slowly killing him. “The blight hit our lands hard. By the time we found out that it was carried in the food, we had all been infected.”

He sat down. “Maudra Seethi sent out a message calling every xeric to battle against the Skeksis, but we couldn't go. We wouldn't be of any help.”

“Are you sure?” Her far-dream was becoming clear. “Because Thra thinks otherwise.”

Kensho laughed at that. “I'm not sure how Thra thinks a bunch of dying Gelfling will be any help. What can we do that other Gelfling cannot do better?”

Kira held up a palm for him. “Dreamfast and see. Thra sent me to find you, Kensho. You and your xeric.”

He looked nervous at that, but took his hand in hers. Kira opened the door between them, and pulled Kensho into the depths of her memories. He floundered for a moment as ages passed over him in the blink of an eye.

He let go, coming back to himself suddenly. Across from her, he looked up at Kira.

“I-what?” he stammered blankly. “I do – and you -all of that-” He buried his head in his hands. “This is a lot to take in.”

“I know.” Kira patted his arm. “If someone told me that I would be an ages-old queen of Thra when I was still a childling, I wouldn't have believed them. But I've seen who you are Kensho, and what you can do. And Thra believes that the boy sitting before me now is still capable of those things.”

“But I was healthy then!” Kensho clutched his fists, small sparks sputtering off them and into the dirt. “I'm sick, infected! How can I be of use to anyone?”

Kira watched the sparks dance. “You can do that.” She pointed to them. “Can you control it?”

He looked down at his hands, as if noticing them for the first time. “I've never tried.” He admitted. “It never occurred to me that I could.”

He stood up abruptly, and ran out the door to the tent. Kira followed, and found him standing at the edge of a small bluff overlooking the desert. “Any advice?” He asked.

“Jen and I usually leave before the Loop ends.” Kira gave a hum. “But Aughra says that when the Crystal brought you back, not all of you came with it. You had returned to Thra, and a part of you stayed there. It was a gateway, and you used it to draw the Darkening through you and into the Crystal. We're all born from the Crystal, so that gateway should still be there, even if it is closed.”

Kensho looked at the sand. Taking a deep breath, he grounded his stance and raised his hands. Jagged bolts of lightning burst from his palms, leaving pocks and trails of molten glass. He tried a few more times, until he lowered his hands and stared at the damage.

“That...might do something.” The young man stood and straightened his shoulders. “When the mind is unclear, listen to the heart.” He looked at Kira with a broad grin. “Thank you. We've spent so long in darkness, that I suppose we forgot how to see the light. No more feeling sorry for ourselves.”

He took her hands in hers. “We'll do whatever we can to help you. Only name it.”

“You won't be the only ones.”

Kira looked back, and saw a cloaked figure standing among the dunes. Raunip's grin was infectious. “Hello there, little Looper.”

“Raunip!” Kira ran over and gave the Dreamer a hug. “You're dreaming this time?”

He waved a hand. “Quite lucidly, too. And a good thing. It sounds like everything has been in chaos up here recently.”

“You have no idea.” Kira groaned. “And I'm certain that I don't know the half of it either.”  
“Well, I'm sure you'll be glad to hear that I'm not here alone.” Raunip's tail lashed, and he led them into the sand a ways. Nestled between the dunes were a number of both makraks and firelings dressed for battle. Kira's heart warmed at the sight. “How?”

“The Pool of Tears.” Raunip pointed to some casks that sat nearby. “We have enough to spare.”

Kira hugged him again. “Raunip, you're amazing. You know that?”

She looked between the army from Mithra and Kensho. “Let's get everyone moving. It's time that we joined up with the others.”

***  
Naia ducked low as a trio of women flew overhead, dropping their cargo of bombs on a cluster of Garthim. Standing, she ignored the trembling in her muscles that screamed she was far past her limit, and pulled water from the now-muddy soil, sending it outwards in frozen spears.

The first sun was nearly up. They had been fighting now all night, and most of the day before. The Garthim had given them no time to rest, and ten more seemed to rise for every one that she felled. They had been pushed back to the small hill that had been used as a lookout, nearly half their number gone.

Beside her, Kylan dodged away from a Garthim blade before closing in grimly. He bore the stains of battle in mud and in blood, the same as she. He backed up until he was by her side, giving her room to fall into a kata that whipped out streams of water in razor-thin whips.

She wanted to say something. But she was nearly deaf from the bombs, and had no breath to spare in any case. Instead, she gritted her teeth and pulled him back until they were pressed into the rock of the cliff and reasonably hidden by Garthim corpses.

She collapsed onto the ground, her energy completely spent. Kylan did the same, letting his sword fall from his hand. He flexed his fingers. “I think my hand has gone completely numb.”

With effort, she summoned blue fire to the tips of her fingers. “Give me your hand.” She ordered.

He held it out, and she traced slow circles across it, coaxing the healing light to sink into the skin and relax the stiff tendons. He gave a hiss of pain as the muscles gave way, but to his credit, did not make another sound. Pulling a small bit of water to her, Naia let it light up with healing energies, and mixed it in with her own Gelfling magic. Slowly, she worked her way up from Kylan's hand to his shoulder.

When she had finished, he flexed his wrist and waggled his fingers. “That's better.”

Naia leaned back against the wall. “I'm glad that you can move again.” She told him. “Because I can't”

Kylan frowned at that. “Haven't you taken any breaks?”

She shrugged. “A couple. But it's been hard for me to get away. The Garthim have kept cutting me off.” She picked idly at the rock wall, and pulled loose a pretty blue-veined pebble. “I think they've been trying to wear me down.”

A bomb went off nearby, and the flutter of wings caught their attention. Deet poked her head over the top of the hill. “Maudra Naia!” The Grottan girl beamed. “I found you! Mother Aughra's been looking for you!”

Naia and Kylan looked at each other. With a sigh, Naia stood back up. “We'd best go see.”

From her perch on the hill, Deet took wing. She pulled a pair of bombs out of her pouch, hovering nearby. “We aren't actually too far.” she said. “If you make a run for it, I can cover you!”

They braced themselves, waiting for Deet's signal. As soon as the bombs went off, Naia rushed forwards as fast as her legs could carry her. The bombs seemed to have done their job. She leapt over the craters they had made, but no Garthim rose up to stop them.

The other Maudras were gathered in the tent together with Jen and Aughra. But Naia's heart leapt for joy at the sight of Gurjin and Rian standing there safely before the fire. Her brother looked up at her entrance, and his face lit up.

“Naia! You're alive!” He scooped her up and pulled her into a tight hug. She let herself bask in his warmth, hugging him back just as tightly. “I'd feared the worst!”

“I'm harder to kill than that.” She stuck out her tongue at him before her expression sobered. “I'd feared the same for you.”

Gurjin chuckled. “I'm alright. The Skeksis didn't touch me. But Rian needs help. They tried to tear him apart with their machine.”

Naia reached out a palm. “I'll need your help.” She said. “You have the same powers that I do. But we don't have time to teach you, and I don't fancy nearly dying to get you to find them yourself. Dreamfast with me, and I'll give you the memory of how to do it.”

Gurjin nodded, and touched his palm to hers. They sank into the Dreamfast, and Naia showed her twin the first time that he had awakened his gift, as well as the times after. When she was finished, she pulled back.

Gurjin turned his hand so that the palm faced the sky, and watched in wonder as blue fire flickered over the surface. He pressed his hand to her chest, and Naia gave a sigh of relief as his strength poured into her.

Rian lay down on the ground, a fair vapran woman sitting next to him. Naia sat on his other side, and pulled at some water until it covered her hands. She let it glow with the same mix of magics that she had used on Kylan, and let herself fall into a healing trance.

Gurjin had not been joking about the damage. More than Rian's body had been damaged. Along his spirit, cracks had been torn, fractures in the light that he had been born to. She reached out a hand, stroking the faults and bidding them to soften and come back together. It was slow going, and she suspected that the damage might go deeper than any Looper could heal without Ascending. Carefully, she unspooled a part of her essence, threading it into the mending the same as she had once done for her brother, had once tried to do for the Crystal.

The healing took, and she watched in her mind's eye as the many tears began to come together. Rian lay still beneath her hands, eyes closed and ears twitching. She felt herself grow faint and far away, until a hand on her shoulder pulled her back.

Blinking spots out of her vision, she looked up at Aughra. The old Anchor looked at her kindly. “Don't give all of yourself, child.”

Naia opened her mouth to reply, and then the world spun around her into darkness.

When she came back to herself, she was lying on a blanket, surrounded by other wounded Gelfling. Her mother was sitting beside her, the Blue-stone Healer's hands alight. When she tried to sit up, Laesid pushed her back down.

“No, Naia. You need rest.” Her mother's voice was stern.

“But the Garthim!” Naia tried to protest. “I can't be lying here!”

“Sleep, Naia. At least for an hour. You need it.”

Her mother was right. Naia's body was heavy, and the fog of sleep was already pulling at her. This time, Naia did not fight it, and let herself fall into dreams.

Before, it had been dreamless. Now she saw fire and shadow spreading from sand, a bright figure at its head. Naia tried to call out, and she watched as Kira raised her head.

“Hang on.” Kira's voice came as if from far away. “Just a little longer. We'll be there soon.”

It took a great effort to reply. Naia could only manage a muffled “Hurry,” before she felt herself slip into a sleep without dreams.

***  
The Landstrider grunted as Jen scurried up to sit astride its back. It gave a toss of its great whiskered head, proboscis flicking in an out nervously. One of the Gelfing on the ground passed him a spear, and he hefted it, testing the weight.

A small company of Gelfing riders gathered with him, their steeds bellowing and pawing at the ground. He wheeled the Landstrider around to face them, holding it in check.

“Form a line, keep your spearpoints low.” He ordered. “And pace your Landstriders to a full gallop. We'll need all their speed to make this work.”  
It said something about how tired they all were that none of the Gelfling spoke up or protested. They merely urged their steeds into formation in silence. From the ground, Aughra looked up at him. “You're certain this will work?” She asked him.

Jen shook his head, his ears twisting back. “We don't have enough people for a proper cavalry charge, but it should buy us a bit more time. We're running out of materials to make bombs with, and we've lost about half our numbers. If we don't try it, everyone will have died for nothing.”

Aughra shook her head. “Good luck then, Jen. Bring them all back alive, you hear?”

He nodded, mouth suddenly dry. Raising his spear, he urged the Landstrider forwards into a gallop, its gait uneven until it found its stride. His ears filled with the sound of drumming feet, and he dropped the spearpoint as low as it would go.

Jen laid his free hand on the Landstrider's back. “Run swift, noble one. I know that you are not trained for battle. But do not shy from this, I beg you.”

The landstrider gave a grunt. Jen looked up at the Garthim line ahead. There was a moment before the line hit of terrifying silence. Then they were breaking through, the Landstriders scattering the bodies of the Garthim like flies. The spear was nearly torn from his grasp by the force, and Jen gave a shout of alarm.

The Garthim turned, packing their bodies closely together. They presented a solid wall, and under him, the Landstrider slowed its pace, searching for a way forwards. The terrible beasts siezed the opportunity, cutting the Landstrider's legs out from under it.

Jen toppled to the ground, hitting the mud with a wet thud. The Garthim cut into the helpless landstrider, their swords gleaming in the first light of dawn. He got to his feet, ramming his spear through a nearby Garthim.

As it fell shuddering to the ground, three more Garthim closed in on Jen. Their black shells sent a shiver of dread down his spine, as a terrible chattering filled the air. Frantically, he searched for a way out. But this was not the Garthim-pit deep below the Castle, and these were not the lumbering brutes that he was so accustomed to dealing with.

One darted forwards, and Jen felt a burning pain in his shoulder as the wicked blade found its mark. He stumbled and nearly fell as the Garthim raised its sword for the fatal blow.

Somewhere, a horn blared. The Garthim paused, confused by this new development. Jen skipped backwards, out of reach. He pressed a hand to the wound, trying to stem the bloodflow.

The horn sounded again, echoing long and loud over the battlefield. Then the ground shuddered around him and he heard a long peal of thunder.

Scrambling onto a hillock, he tried to see what was making the sound.

A score of Crystal Skimmers from the desert filled the sky, riders seated on their backs. Below, Jen could see a line of makraks, the massive miners standing nearly twice the height of the Garthim. They carried swords, clubs, and shields, and were making rapid work of any Garthim that drew close.

“Jen!”

He looked up, and his heart soared at the sight of Kira flying low over the battlefield. He threw up his hands, and she swooped down to him, pulling him off of his feet. She adjusted her grip, and kissed his cheek. “I missed you, my love.”

Jen looked up at her, not wanting to tear his eyes away from her face. “You are the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen. You know that?”

“Flirt.” She teased, carrying them high into the sky. Jen looked down at the battle in wonder. Makraks and Firelings were pouring over the battlefield, cutting down Garthim like reeds at the harvest. Kira alit on the back of a Crystal Skimmer.

“Kensho! You're clear!” She called.

The dousan boy gave a thumb's up, his eyes lighting up with violet energy. He leaned over the side of the Crystal Skimmer, and bolts of dark lightning leapt from his hands, turning any unfortunate Garthim to heaps of ash.

Jen gave a whoop of glee at the sight, and he was not the only one. Below them, the besieged Gelfling gave a ragged cheer, hollering at the awesome sight of their reinforcements.

“We're winning!” Jen couldn't tear his eyes away from the battle. “Look, the Garthim are turning back! You've routed them!”

He pulled Kira into a hug, burying his face in her hair with a happy nuzzle. “You're amazing!” He started smothering his wife with thrilled kisses, her laughter infectious.

“I only brought them here.” Kira giggled. “You need to thank Raunip, Thurma, and Kensho. They did more than I!”

“I will thank them later.” Jen laced his fingers through hers and kissed her again. “I am thanking you right now.”

The face of the Second Brother poked over the horizon. The long night was finally over.

***  
The Castle rumbled, shaking to its foundations. In the Crystal Chamber, the Skeksis huddled miserably, listening to the echoes of battle.

“Why aren't the Garthim stopping them?” The Ornamentalist wailed, clutching a handkerchief. “We were winning!”  
“It's those creatures!” The Collector replied. “Those ugly, hideous ones. I remember them!”

“And those fire creatures too!” The Scroll-keeper added. “The Garthim can't keep up!”

SkekSo paced the room, shaking with rage. First SkekGra had betrayed them and released the Looper before SkekTek could finish his experiments. Then SkekVar and SkekUng had found his remains. Now the Gelfling and their allies were laying waste to the Castle. He looked at the Crystal of Truth, at the prize that he had held with iron talons for nearly a thousand trine.

The Scientist sidled up to him cautiously. “I beseech you, my Emperor.” He wheedled, “If you have any manner of indemnification that will guarantee our victory and assauge our tribulations, let us make use of it quickly!”

The Emperor ignored the terrified Skeksis. He raised his sceptre, tapping it lightly against the Crystal. It gave a mournful hum.

From the far wall, SkekSa scoffed. “We should be out there fighting.” She snarled. “Not waiting in here to die. We know this Castle better than the Gelfling do. You will get us all killed with your cowardice!”

“Coward?” The Emperor hissed, his beak flecked with froth. “You call me a coward, Mariner?” He drew himself up to his full height. “You forget yourself, SkekSa.”

Another rumble shook the Castle. “You will all remain here.” SkekSo commanded. “If these wretches breach the Chamber, shatter the Crystal until nothing but dust remains. I will return shortly.”

He stormed out of the room. Behind him, the Skeksis all looked at each other, unwilling to disobey and face his wrath.

“Coward.” SkekSo hissed the word. “I will show them cowardice. We have endured this farce long enough.”

He rounded a corner, and narrowed his eyes. Aughra stood in the corridor, barring the way. Her withered face was grim. “SkekSo.”

“Mother Aughra.” SkekSo sneered, malice oozing from his voice. “You have overstepped yourself.” He stalked forwards a few paces. “You dare to defy us, to deny us what is ours by right!”

“I dare, you mouldy relic.” Aughra raised the spear in her hand. “You have already tried to grind us all to dust twice over. You think I'll let you try again?” She levelled the spear at him, and began marching forward.

“You miserable old crone.” The Emperor hissed, watching as a handful of Gelfling burst into the corridor behind her. “I have had enough of you!”

He thrust the sceptre forwards. All the power of the Darkening that had been locked in the stone poured out. It ricocheted through the small corridor, leaving no place to run. Aughra's eye widened, right before the bolts struck her in the chest.

Nobody moved. The Gelfling stood frozen, before they started screaming in disbelief. Reality shook and gave a shuddering wrench. Aughra fell to her knees, clutching at her chest. Crystalline fractures covered her body, glowing brightly.

“You old fool!” She cried. “What have you done?”

Reality screamed around them as the Loop crashed, coming to an abrupt end together with its lynchpin. Through the looming abyss, the last sound they heard was the mad laughter of the Emperor.

***  
Lono did not jump when an alert flashed across his screen, noting that the Loop that had been running had crashed. Aborting the automatic attempt to run an Eiken Loop, he set the next iteration to manual, and started reading the crash log.

He sipped at a now-cold cup of coffee, grimacing at the flavour. Halfway through the long, his eyes widened. Quickly, he switched to a new tab, and started going through the Loop's code piece by meticulous piece.

Pele poked her head over the cubicle wall. “Hey Lono, got a moment?”

He looked up. “Ah, no Pele. I'm sorry. My Loop suffered some damage in the Crisis, and I have to get this fixed.”

There was a thump from where Pele was probably kicking the wall. “Are you running a Loop at the moment?”

“No, I have it suspended so that I can go through the code. Why?” Lono rubbed at his eyes, and stretched out in his seat.

“Let me know when you're done.” She winked. “After the Crisis, I'm pretty sure a lot of our Loopers want to drown their sorrows in booze, so Dionysus is setting up a Bar Loop for them. When you're done, let him know, okay?”

Lono nodded, half his attention still on the code. “Will do.” He replied.

There was some shuffling, and then Pele disappeared. Lono hunched back over the terminal, making small tweaks to the code where things had been damaged by whatever the Skeksis had been doing. Once that had been patched up, he looked through the list of “Umbridges”, now showing the true names and statuses of the Loopers.

Remarkably, only one Skeksis was listed as a potential activation. He was also the only Skeksis in the Loop who had died. Lono thanked himself for his good fortune, and began comprising a note for Skuld.

On the other side of Yggdrasil, a message popped up in Skuld's inbox, winking cheerily at her. Frowning at this latest interruption, the overworked admin glanced through it.

Good news! It read. The Skeksis are not Looping, and the Loops did not Crash for a second time!

Skuld's eye twitched. “Lono...” She growled. “What the hell happened with your Loop?”

***  
Water poured off of the leaves of the tree, hitting the roof of the bus shelter with a slow, steady plinking sound. Overhead, clouds hung low and heavy, filling the air with mist. Every so often, a car would drive by, its headlights reflected in the sheen of the street.

Jen's breath fogged the air, and he shivered, Waking slowly, as if from a deep sleep. Around him, he could hear other voices grumbling and murmuring. Groggily, he sent out a Ping, and then gasped under the sudden weight of thousands of replies.

“Jen?” Beside him, Kira held a hand to her head, wincing. “What...?”

“We crashed.” Aughra pulled herself onto the small bus in the shelter, sized too big for Thra's Loopers. “Infernal Skeksis. Don't have any sense.”

Another shiver ran down Jen's spine, this time from dread. The memories came back to him, rushing into the hallway in the hopes of stopping the Skeksis, only to watch in horror as the Emperor killed Aughra before any of them could react. He shuddered, and pushed the memory away.

“Ah, problem.” Jen looked up, and nearly laughed at the sight of a sheepish Gurjin. “Am I supposed to be here? Because I'm pretty certain that I should have forgotten everything. Or not be here.” the Drenchen shrugged his shoulders helplessly.

He was quickly tackled by a laughing Naia and Rian. Quickly, Jen looked for any Skeksis, though he was sure if there were any, they would already know about them. No terrifying tyrants loomed over them, or were anywhere in sight outside.

They did have three other new Loopers besides Gurjin, though. Thurma and Kensho stood off to the side nervously, watching as Naia reached out an arm, and pulled a startled Kylan into a tight hug. Jen frowned as he looked at the Fireling.

“Thurma, are you alright?” He asked in worry. Her fire was burning dimly, and she looked pale and ashy.

The young Ember Queen shook her head slowly. “It's all this water and cold.” She shivered. “It's going to dim me.”

Beside her, Kensho reached a hand out to try and awkwardly pat her shoulder before he remembered. Instead, he folded his hands together nervously. “Now what?” He asked. “And where are we?”

Kira looked out at the street for a moment. “Tokyo, Japan. On Earth.” She said with some hesitation. “I think...Ginza?”

Jen looked through his Loop memories quickly. “That sounds right.”

“Oh. Hello.”

Jen startled, and watched as everyone's ears swivelled to catch the voice. A small pinkish creature of indeterminate species was sitting on the sidewalk outside. Though it was smiling, something about it sent a thrill of unease through him. Aughra hopped off of her seat and walked over to the door.

“We have met before.” She regarded. “Kyuubey, wasn't it?”

The creature nodded. “We have.” It said loftily, before turning to the rest of them. “Would anyone like to make a contract?” It asked, before raising a paw. “Do not respond. My offer was not sincere. I am trying to make an effort at 'humour'. Species such as yourselves often respond favourably to it.”

“What.” Thurma asked flatly. “You said a lot of words, and I have no idea what they meant.”

Kyuubey shrugged. “I am practicing 'being funny'.”

“It sounds like you're causing mischief.” Aughra said calmly. “Whatever it is, leave us out of it. All we want is a bit of peace and quiet right now.”

“You're in luck.” The other Looper stood up. “You are currently inhabiting what is known as a 'Bar Loop'. There are several establishments throughout the multiverse that we as Loopers frequent. Considering the recent spate of new Loopers, it was only logical that the Admins should induce a massive one.”

It put on a pensive face that did not quite fit. “Will this be your first introduction proper to the Looping community as a whole?”

“It's my first Loop period.” Kylan raised a hand. “Our last one crashed.”

Beside him, Gurjin also raised his hand. “Mine too, and those two as well.” He jerked a thumb at Kensho and Thurma. “We're a little out of our depth at all of this.”

“Very well.” Kyuubey waved its tail at them. “You are fortunate. Many of the veteran Loopers who have self-duplication abilities have been combing the city for new Loopers.” a brief expression of annoyance appeared. “Homura volunteered me. And threatened to destroy all of my bodies if I wasn't on my best behaviour.”

It stuck out a paw. “The name of the establishment that we will be attending is known as Eden Hall. It's proprietor is the Anchor for the Loops, and one of the finest purveyors of drinks across Yggdrasil. People have a way of finding Eden Hall on their own. I am simply expediting things.”

A tall purple bus appeared out of nowhere with a bang, coming to a halt in front of them. “You will not always have the luxury of the Knight Bus.” Kyuubey warned as the doors opened. “But it does no harm to see if anyone has decided to be designated driver.”

A bushy haired woman poked her head out of the doors, and frowned. “Kyuubey.” She raised a stick in her hand. “Homura told you not to cause trouble.”

“I have kept my word.” Kyuubey retorted. “I have been unusually forthright and honest. I dislike it as immensely as I am capable of.”

The woman did not look convinced, but relented. She scanned their group, and her eyes widened as she noticed Thruma. She gave her stick a flick, and two bolts of light shot out and hit Thurma. Jen gave a shout of alarm along with the others, before he took note of the fact that she wasn't harmed.

“Flame freezing and waterproofing spells.” The woman replied, and beckoned them aboard. “You'll pick them up for yourself soon.”

Thurma turned her hands over in amazement. “It doesn't hurt anymore!” She marvelled, before shivering. “I'm still cold though.”

Kensho poked her cheek experimentally, before smiling. “Well, it should be warmer inside than out here.”

They boarded the bus, and Jen was surprised at both the size and the design of the interior. He had been expecting a bus like those from the rare modern-day Loops. This was sleek and well-designed, with plenty of extremely comfortable seats lined up in rows with plenty of floor space. The first floor of seats were huge, but a helpful sign affixed to the wall showed smaller seats on the upper floors.

They walked up the first two flights of stairs before they found a section of Gelfling-sized seats. Kyuubey bid them farewell at the stairwell, continuing upwards. Jen sank into a plush red seat with a groan of relief.

Rian collapsed into the seat beside him “I needed this.” His fellow looper snuggled deep into the cushions. “Just a bit of peace and quiet, you know?”

“After the Loop we had, any comfort is nice.” Kira sat down on his other side, and the wall between them melted away to form a couch. Pulling her feet up, she snuggled into Jen's side and held his hand. She ran a thumb over it, and let a hazy dreamfast form between them.

Jen leaned into the bond, feeling any lingering mental exhaustion fade away in her presence. Across the aisle, he vaguely heard an exclamation of pleasure as Thurma found the heating feature on the seats. There was a shudder as the Knight Bus started moving again.

He turned his head, watching drops of water roll down the tinted windows. The streets passed in a blur, jumping from one part of the city to another in the blink of an eye. Gurjin snored lightly, his sister leaning up against his shoulder.  
Something about the Loop reminded him of the Mystic valley. It held that same sense of peace and seclusion from the world at large, healing wounds in his heart that he hadn't known about. All too soon, the Knight Bus came to a stop, and an announcement crackled over the speakers.

“Any one who wants to disembark at Eden Hall, now's the time to do it. Our next scheduled stops are Tokyo Tower and Ueno Park.”

After the warmth of the bus, the Tokyo streets were more than a little chilly, and the rain had turned from a drizzle into a proper shower. He didn't let go of Kira's hand as the crowd surged forwards, a dizzying array of creatures and people in every shape and size.

They huddled together in a tight group. Rian looked in amazement at all the varied peoples around him. “These are all Loopers?” He asked in amazement.

Naia chuckled. “You wait. The Loops only get weirder from here.”

Ahead of them, a large winged lizard with a flaming tail held the door for them. Jen gave a 'thank you', and stepped inside.

The room was massive. Chairs and tables of every size and shape stretched further than his eye could see. Along one side of the room, a bar stretched about half the length, seated with people of every size and shape, laughing and talking noisily. Waitstaff wandered the room, ducking under limbs, gasses, and other body parts carrying trays of drinks.

Kylan leaned over nervously. “Any ideas on where to sit?”

Aughra shook her head. “None. Come on, then. We won't find anything until we start looking.”

Their anchor wandered towards the back of the room, leaving them to trail after her in a gaggle. Most of the tables that they passed were full, as old friends who hadn't seen each other in what had to be thousands of trine regaled each other with stories of their adventures.

Jen's ears twitched as he caught snippets of conversations.

“...Then Toothless pulls out a comb and starts screaming 'die moth...” “...I have no idea why the pudding came to life, I only added a little...” “...You ever spent a million years in a Loop where you're a tree? Driving a car is hard when you have roots...” “...Olimar vs. Batman. Then the Death Star comes out of nowhere and starts dancing...”

His head spun. Just when he was about to be overwhelmed by it all, Aughra stopped. There was a table that was mostly open, with enough seats for them, and only one auburn-haired woman sitting at it.

“Do you mind?” Aughra asked.

The woman smiled at them. “Not at all. I don't mind the company.”  
Jen clambered onto the chair and sat down as the others did the same. He drummed his fingers on the table.

The woman smiled, lacing her fingers together. “Is this your first time at Eden Hall?”

They all nodded. “People keep asking us that.” Kensho rubbed his arm. “Is it really that obvious?”

“A little.” The woman took a sip of her drink. “It's a bit overwhelming for me too, actually. I was activated by the Crisis. I go from a normal Eden Hall, to one where Sasakura-kun is a bartender for the whole multiverse. It's taken me a couple of Loops to actually start getting used to it. But this is the first time that it's been this full for me.”

“You were activated by the virus?” Rian asked in curiosity. “That must have been something.”

“It certainly was.” She gave a hum. “Our Loop doesn't have any villains or anything, so our Admin only told Ryuu about it after the Loop was over.” She giggled at a memory. “Poor Ryuu nearly jumped out of his skin when he found out that I was Looping.” the woman's voice took a wistful turn. “He's been alone in our Loop for nearly an eternity now. Even with all his customers, I think maybe he was starting to get a bit lonely.”

“Just a little bit.”

A tall young man with spiky black hair and a waiter's uniform stood with a tray. “For you, Miwa, a Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster, original recipe.” He winked at her, and passed her the drink, before turning to the rest of them. “And for all of you, a light ale from the Shire, Middle-Earth.”

Miwa laughed at their confusion. “They call Ryuu the Glass of the Gods. He has an uncanny ability to get you not only the drinks that you want, but the one that you need.”

Rian stared at the glass of ale. “But we didn't order yet.” He looked around ears flicking in confusion. “Did someone order a drink for us?”

“It's on the house.” Ryuu laughed. “I'll be by when you're ready to order something. Until then...” He gave a bow. “Enjoy.”

Jen slowly sipped at the drink. Miwa and Ryuu had been right. It was just what he needed at that moment. “How long does this loop run for?”

Miwa shrugged. “About a year. We get Loopers Waking up all the time, so folks are always dropping by. A lot of them use the Loop for some rest and relaxation, or some sight-seeing.”

“That sounds nice!” Kira was enthusiastic at the idea. “Travelling the world, taking everything in...”

“Ah!” Miwa pulled something from her Pocket. “That reminds me. I work for a hotel in the Baseline. It's no Eden Hall, but Ryuu's been helping me get it set up so that we can cater to Loopers.” She passed them each a keycard. “Bar Eden Hall is actually set up in the hotel at the moment, so feel free to drop by the front desk at any time, and we'll get you checked in. And don't worry about returning the cards. Those are a permanent issue, and are good across the Loops.”

She stood up from the table, her drink in hand. “I'd better go see if anyone else needs one. Later!”

She waved a hand, and hurried over to another table. Jen watched her go, before turning back to his drink with a smile.

“Excuse me.” Jen turned. A handful of Loopers were standing there, half of them looking nervous. A human girl cleared her throat. “Do you mind if we join you?”

Aughra shook her head. “Don't need our permission.”

The girl pulled up a chair, and held out a hand. “I'm Sarah. This is Jareth, Hoggle, Didymus and Ludo.”

“Our apologies for our intrusion.” the human man – Jareth – bowed. “Our branches share a connection, and we thought to introduce ourselves.”

“Oh?” Aughra leaned forwards in curiosity, her one eye gleaming. “Well now. You'll just have to share that story. Hmm?”


End file.
